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eeu rCr OF THE LIFE 


OF 


eee 1) LANIER. 


(Printed for the use of his family only.) 


NEW YORK. 





i 1671. } 








HOSFORD & SONS, PRINTERS 


56 Cedar Street, 
New Fork. 





BOO NWey CHILDREN. 


Ln the following pages I have prepared for youd 
brief sketch of some of the leading events of my Life, 
believing that 1 can leave to you no legacy more accept- 
able, 





I was born in Washington, in the County of Beaufort, in 
the State of North Carolina, on the 22d day of November, 
1800. My father was Alexander Chalmers Lanier. His 
mother’s maiden name was Sarah Chalmers. She was 
nearly allied to the family of Chalmers in Scotland, of 
which Dr. Chalmers, the celebrated divine, was afterward 
a member. It was this connection that gave my father his 
middle name. My mother was a native of Virginia. Her 
maiden name was Drusilla Doughty. cs 

My first paternal ancestor in this country was Thomas 
Lanier, a Huguenot of Bordeaux, France, who was driven 
out of that country by religious persecution, near the 
middle of the seventeenth century. Ie went first to Ene- 
land, and came from that country to this, either in com- 
pany with, or about the time that John Washington, the 
ancestor of George Washington, emigrated to it. He 
subsequently married Elizabeth, a daughter of John Wash- 
ington, and ultimately settled in North Carolina.* In his 
native country he was a man of high social position, and 
possessed a large estate, a considerable portion of which he 
contrived to bring away with him, although confiscated by 
law. He also brought with him a portion of the family 
furniture, which was long retained by his descendants as 
interesting and valued heirlooms. His children were 
Richard, Thomas, James, Elizabeth and Sampson Lanier. 
It was from the first named that our branch of the family 
descended. His children were Lewis, Buckner, Burrill 
and Winifred. Lewis, our ancestor, married a Miss Ball, a 
sister of the mother of General Washington. He was my 








* The old Colonial Records at Richmond, Va., show several grants of land to Thomas 
Lanier by the Crown, in the Counties of Brunswick and Lunenburg, in that State, to the 
extent of about three thousand acres, 





6 


great-grandfather. His son, James Lanier, was my grand- 
father. My account of the emigration of our ancestor 
to this country, and of his marriage into the Wash- 
ington family, is derived from a statement of the late 
Core Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of Mrs. 
General Washington, taken from the records of the 
Washington family in his possession. The marriage of my 
great-grandfather with a sister of the mother of General 


Washington is a well-established tradition in our -family, 


but I possess no authentic record of the fact. ; 
My grandfather, James Lanier, was a planter. He was 
well educated, a cultivated gentleman, energetic and public 
spirited, and took an active part in the war of the Inde- 
pendence, serving through the whole of it as captain in 
Colonel William Washington’s regiment of light cavalry, 


which was particularly distinguished for its efficient service. 


He was in the battles of Kutaw Springs, Guilford Court 
TLouse, the Cowpens, and, I believe, of King’s Mountain. 
These were among the most brilliant achievements of the 
war. Ile also served as captain in General Wayne’s ex- 
pedition against the Northwestern Indians, in 1794, which 
not only avenged the defeat of General St. Clair, but com- 
pletely destroyed their power, and for the first time gave 


peace to, and prepared the way for the future settlement of 


the great Mississippi Valley. 

in 1789, I think, my orandfather meee to Nashville, 
eee The South-west was then just coming’ into 
notice. Among the immigrants into that section was 
(General Andrew Jackson, afterward so famous in the his- 
tory of the country. For some time after his arrival at 
Nashville he was an inmate of my grandfather’s family. 
My grandfather, subsequently, about 1791, removed to 
Bourbon County, Kentucky, of which he was soon ap- 
pointed Prothonotary, or County Clerk. From thence he 
moved to Pendleton County, Kentucky, where he passed 
the remainder of his days. 





—— Oe 


ae 


te 


Soon after my birth, my tather moved to Bourbon 
County, Kentucky. He invested his property in lands, 
and lost it by defect of title, with which much of the real 
estate of that State was tainted, and which produced wide- 
spread disaster and ruin. In consequence of these losses, 
he moved in 1807, to the town of Katon, in Preble County, 
Ohio. Upon reaching this State, he manumitted two valu- 
able family slaves, the only ones he held, being prohibited 
from doing so in Kentucky by the laws of the latter. He 
had the satistaction of seeing them both useful and respected 
in their new condition of freedom. I have always greatly 
valued this act of my father, as these slaves constituted 
quite a portion of his property. The act was, however, 
only in harmony with his whole character. 

For a considerable portion of the time that my father 
resided at Katon, he was clerk of the courts of the county. 
Upon the breaking out of the war of 1812, he entered the 
army and served during the whole of it. He served under 
General Harrison, with the rank of major, in his north- 
western campaigns, and had in charge a long line of de- 
fences, extending westerly from Lake Erie, and following 
up the valley of the Maumee, the most important of which 
was Lort Wayne, situated on anarrow neck of land separat- 
ing the waters flowing into Lake Erie from those flowing 
into the Gulf of Mexico, and named in honor of General 
Wayne, and in commemoration of his celebrated north- 
western campaign, in which my grandfather served. Upon 
the site of the fort, erected in the last century for the pur- 
pose of preventing the incursions of hostile savages, has 
grown up one of the most flourishing towns in the West, 
which has now become the centre of a vast system of rail- 
roads, the most important of which is the Pittsburg, lort 
Wayne and Chicago. By a singular coincidence, the very 
eround which my father and grandfather periled their 
lives to wrest from savage tribes, I have labored long and 
earnestly, though in a different way, to improve and enrich 


8 


by the arts of peace, and thus to complete their work. The 
territory, once so remote and inaccessible, and whose forests 
were the covert for the treacherous Indian, has, through the 
instrumentality of the railway, been brought within easy 
distance of Eastern markets, and is now one of the most 
populous, flourishing and prosperous portions of the West. 


While at Eaton I attended the village school for about 


eighteen months. It was kept by a Mr. Stevens, who taught 
only the rudiments of an English education. While there 
I served as clerk in the store of a Mr. Cornelius Van Aus- 
dall, an immigrant of Dutch descent from Hagerstown, 
Maryland, and a very worthy man. I believe he is still 
living. I have always looked upon my service with him as 
one of the most valuable periods of my early life. It taught 
me to be industrious, active, methodical, and the value, if I 
may use the word, of small things. I was brought into 
contact with all varieties of people, had to turn my hand to 
every kind of work, and learned how to be respectful and 
obliging to all. The stock in the store consisted chiefly of 
light cotton goods, twists, buttons, and the smaller articles 
of hard and tin ware, and other articles suited to the primi- 
tive condition of the people with whom we dealt. The 
greater part of the trade consisted of barter. The most 
valuable articles received in exchange for goods were pel- 
tries of one kind or another. The route to the Eastern 
markets was up the Ohio River to Pittsburg and Wheeling, 
in keel-boats; thence by wagons to Philadelphia or Balti- 
more. There were in those days neither roads nor steam- 
boats in the West. The cost was too great to allow the 
transportation of the produce of the Western country to 
market, except a small amount of flour, corn and provisions 
sent down the river in arks, or flatboats, to New Orleans. 
Nearly everything was produced in the family that was 
consumed in it. The only money then in circulation was 
silver—Spanish coins chiefly, received by way of New Or- 
leans. This was packed on horses when the merchant went 


mt 





ee a O 


ae an ress 
Ed rch DSc 
’ Baan: ist 
Sh i inc aed Be ae nga 
Stas MOY i eer ee ae 
i bape. fae ee eo 
(Dp i as a > 


| ere, Mes eg ae 





9 


Kast to make his purchases, and the hghter kinds of goods 
brought back in the same manner. The trip to and from 
the Kastern States was then an affair of greater magnitude 


and peril, and required a greater length of time than that 
at present between New York and San Francisco; or, be- 


tween New York and Europe. The country was wholly 


without good roads, and almost the only mode of travel, as 
as of transporting merchandise, was upon the backs of 
horses and mules.* ; 

In 1815 I attended, for about a year and a half, an acad- 





* Only six years before my grandfather moved to Tennessee, General Washington crossed 
the Allegheny mountains for the purpose of ascertaining the practicability of construct- 
ing a navigable water line from the Potomac to the Ohio. The report of his journey and 
observations describes so accurately the condition of the Western country at the time, 
and the necessity of improved highways to unite it firmly with the Eastern States, that I 
cannot refrain from copying a portion of his communication addressed to the Governor of 
Virginia: 

“T need not remark to you,” said Washington in the communication referred to, ‘that 
the flanks and rear of the United States are possessed by other powers, and formidable 
ones too, and how necessary it is to apply the cement of interest to bind all parts of the 
Union together by indissoluble bonds—especially that part of it which lies immediately 
west of us—with the Middle States. For what ties, let me ask, should we have upon those 
people (in the Mississippi Valley)? How entirely unconnected with them shall we be, and 
what troubles may we not apprehend, if the Spaniards on their right and Great Britain on 
their left, instead of throwing stumbling-blocks in their way, as they now do, should hold 
out lures for their trade and alliance? What, when they gain strength, which will be 
sooner than most people conceive (from the immigration of foreigners who will have no 
predilection for us, as well as the removal of our own citizens), will be the consequence of 
haying formed close connections with both or either of these powers, in a commercial 
way? It needs not, in my opinion, the gift of prophecy to foretell. 

“The Western States (I speak now from my own observation) hang upon a pivot. The 
touch of a feather would turn them any way. They have looked down the Mississippi till 
the Spaniards, very impoliticly, I think, for themselves, threw difficulties in the way; and 
they looked that way for no other reason than because they could glide gently down the 
stream, without considering, perhaps, the difficulties of the voyage back again and the 
time necessary to perform it; and because they had no other means of coming to us but 
by land transportation and unimproved roads. These causes have hitherto checked the 
industry of the present settlers; for, except the demand for provisions, occasioned by the 
increase of population, and the little flour which the necessities of the Spaniards compel 
them to buy, they have no incitements to labor But smooth the road, and make easy 
the way for them, and then see what an influx of articles will be poured upon us, how 
amazingly our exports will increase, and how amply we shall be compensated for any 
trouble and expense we may encounter to effect it.” 

it has been reserved to the present generation, by the construction of railways, to 
“ smooth the road and make easy the way” for the West. The results have vastly more 
than fulfilled the anticipations of the Father of his Country. These works have not only 
rendered the country indissoluble, but have created a commerce the magnitude of which 
really exceeds belief. 


10 


emy taught by Messrs. Morse and Jones, at Newport, Ken- 
tucky. They were excellent teachers, and I derived great 
benefit from their instruction. In 1817 my father moved 
to Madison, Indiana. This State was admitted into the 
Union the year previous, and contained about 60,000 in- 
habitants scattered very sparsely over the southern portion 
of it. At that time the Indian titles were extinguished only 
twenty miles north of Madison. At this place my father 
opened a dry-goods store. The town at that time contained 
about one hundred and fifty people. It had been so re- 
cently settled that it was still a forest—the trees that were 
not standing almost covered the ground where they fell. 
It was wholly without streets, or any improvements fitted 
to make it an attractive or agreeable place. After our re- 
moval to Madison I had, for a year and a half, the almost 
inestimable advantage of a private school taught by a very 
superior person from the Eastern States. When not at 
school I assisted my father in his store. At this period, 
General Harrison, afterward President of the United 
States, and who was a warm and life-long friend of our 
family, procured for me a cadetship at West Point. I was 
very eager to accept the appointment, but relinquished it, 
seeing that my mother was greatly distressed at the thought 
of my leaving home, I being her only child. 

In March, 1820, my father, who had long been ill from 
diseases contracted while in military service under General 
Harrison, died. My father, from his infirm health, was not 
successful in his business in Madison, and died insolvent. 
I settled up the estate, and, ultimately, as I acquired pro- 
perty of my own, paid all his debts in full. 

In 1819 I commenced the study of law in the office of 
Gen. Alexander A. Meek, of Madison. I finished my legal 
course by graduating at the Transylvania law school in 
Kentucky, in 1823. I immediately commenced the practice 
of law in Madison, which at that time had a population of 
about 300. I was diligent, strove to be respected, and made 


pi aie ea 
P= 


iy Fe eo 6a es 





11 


it a point to be punctual in every duty and appointment. 
It was early my purpose of life to respect scrupulously the 
rights of others, but always to be firm in the assertion of my 
own. It was the rigid adherence of this plan of life, if it 
may be so called, that I owed my success. My diligence 
and fidelity in every engagement gave me the command of 
whatever money I wanted, as it was well known that I would 
never allow my liabilities to exceed my means. While in 
the practice of the law I made the cause of my clients my 
own. Success or defeat, consequently, gave me more plea- 
sure or pain, than it did them. I was, for this reason, very 
successful ; but I found the labor and anxiety of my protes- 
sion too much for my strength, which led me to give it up 
as soon as other satisfactory openings for business presented 
themselves. While in the practice of the law, I traveled 
what was called the South-eastern District of Indiana, prac- 
ticing in a large number of counties. The only mode of 
traveling in those days was by horseback. On most of the 
routes traveled we were guided by trails or blazed lines, 
which were often preterable to what were called roads which, 
from the friable nature of the soil, were speedily so cut up 
as to be almost impassable, particularly in the wet seasons of 
the year. The rivers were crossed in log canoes, and by 
swimming our horses, when they could not be forded. 

In 1824 I was appointed assistant clerk of the House of 
Representatives of the State, at the last sitting of the Legis- 
lature at Corydon. The next meeting was at Indianapolis, 
the present capital. I continued assiistant clerk until 1827, 
when I was elected chief clerk. My compensation was $3.50 
per day. I kept the journal in which was entered all the 
proceedings of the House, and did the reading. My duties 
required the greatest diligence and the closest attention. I 
soon became master of the rules and modes of conducting 
business, and was in this way enabled to be of service to 
members, many of whom, although men of sense and ability, 
often found themselves in positions of embarrassment from 
want of familiarity with legislative proceedings. My good 


12 


offices were often availed of in the drawing up of motions — 


and bills, and in guiding the conduct of members on the 
floor. I regard my office of clerk of the House as one of 
the chief causes of my future success. It enabled me to form 
au intimate acquaintance with all the leading men of the 
State, many of whom, in after life, were not slow to recipro- 
cate the good offices I had done them. 

With my practice and my salary as clerk of the House, I 
was in receipt of quite an income, for those days, in the 
West. My habits were simple and economical, at the same 
time I studied to make every one dependent upon me, among 
whom was my mother, comfortable and happy. My surplus 
means were, as fast as acquired, invested in real estate, which, 
as in all new States, rose rapidly in value. 

When clerk of the House, the trip from Madison to 
Indianapolis required three days of fatiguing travel on 
horseback. It is now performed by railroad in about four 
hours. | . | 

In 1833, upon the chartering of the State Bank of Indi- 
ana, I retired from the practice of the law, and took a prom- 
inent share in themanagement of that institution. I helda 
larger amount of the stock first subscribed than any other 
individual. This bank consisted of a Central Bank, located 
at Indianapolis, with ten branches in as many leading towns 
of the State. I was the first President of the Madison 
branch. The Central Bank was not one of discount or issue. 
Its functions were a general supervision of the branches, be- 
ing a Board of Control, of which Mr. McCulloch, afterward 
Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, and myself, 
were among the leading members. Notwithstanding the 
managers of the bank, at the time it went mto operation, 
were wholly without training or experience in such matters, 
many of them never having been inside of such an institu- 
tion, it proved a model of suecess, and consequently most 
beneficial to all the interests of the State. The capital was 
almost wholly borrowed from abroad, and through the credit 





eee eee eS ee 
ines ” 2 « 
a 


— a it 





13 


of the State, which took $1,000,000 of the stock, and loaned 
its credit to individual stockholders to the extent of one-half 
the stock subscribed by them, taking as security therefor, 
real estate at one-half of its unimproved value. The credit 
of the State was high, its five per cent. bonds selling at a 
premium averaging from twelve to fifteen per cent. It may 
seem incredible that a bank, based almost wholly upon capi- 
tal borrowed, and that too through the instrumentality of 
the State, should have proved such asuccess. It would ap- 
pear to have been almost inevitable that in a country lack- 
ing in commercial training, where the demand for capital is 
always excessive, where the managers of trust funds have 
every inducement to make a reckless use of them, and 
where, among the great mass, there is very little idea of the 
importance and value of promptness in the payment of ob- 
ligations, that the bank, if it did not lese its capital, would 
soon find it converted into various kinds of property taken 
in payment of loans, or in the overdue notes of its borrow- 
ers. The bank commenced business at one of the most 
critical periods of the history of the country—at the very 
beginning of that great era of speculation which nearly 
bankrupted the whole nation, and which culminated in the 
terrible catastrophe of 1837. At this disastrous crisis nearly 
every bank in the Western and South-western States failed, 
with the exception of that of Indiana. A very large num- 
ber of those of the Eastern States were totally ruined. It 
would seem to have been almost impossible that the bank of 
Indiana, then one of the newest of the Western States, 
should not have become involved in the general catastrophe. 
So far from this being the case, the bank not only paid divi- 
dends averaging from twelve to fourteen per cent. annually, 
but returned to its stockholders nearly double the original 
investment, when it was wound up at the expiration of its 
charter in 1854. For the $1,000,000 invested by it in this 
institution, the State received, in profits alone, fully 
$3,500,000. These profits now constitute the school fund 





14 


of the State, the increase of which, being invested in the 
State indebtedness, is rapidly converting the whole of it 
into an irredeemable fund to be devoted to educational pur- 
poses. The bank was the only one of the numerous enter- 
prises in which the State embarked that did not prove an 
almost total failure. | 
As we had always intended to keep our banks in Sostien 
to meet any emergency that might arise, we had not in the 
least. anticipated the genera! suspension, in 1837, in the 
Eastern States, till that event happened. Our Board of Con- 
trol were then in session at Indianapolis. We were at the 
time the depository of $1,500,000 of Government funds. I 
was instructed by the Board. to proceed immediately. to 
Washington to represent our condition, and to confer with 
the Secretary of the Treasury as to what we, in the emer- 
geucy, should do. I took with me $80,000 in gold. I went 
up the Ohio River in a steamboat to Wheeling, and thence 
by stage, chartered for the purpose, alone across the moun- 
tains to Frederick, at that time the Western terminus of the 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and 61 miles west from Bal- 
timore. Isuffered not a little anxiety.on account of the 
treasure I carried more than 300 miles, through a wild and 
comparatively uninhabited region, and* was not a little re- 
lieved on reaching the safe conduct of a railroad. On ar- 
riving at Washington I obtained an interview with the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury, the lon. Levi Woodbury, explained 
to him the position and the entire solvency of our bank, and 
delivered to him the gold I had bronght with me, in part 
payment of our balances. He received me with great cor- 
diality, and said that our bank was the only one that had 
offered to pay any portion of its indebtedness in specie. We 
were allowed to retain the Government deposits till they 
were drawn in its regular disbursements. At his solicita- 
tion I consented to act as Pension Agent for a portion of the 
Western States. For the pensions I paid, drafts were made 
upon the Government deposits in our bank. Drafts were 


” 








15. 


also made upon us in payment of troops, transportation of 


the mails and other services. In all these payments our 
bank-notes, from our well-known credit, were received 
equally with specie. In such payments all the balances 
against us were liquidated in a manner entirely satisfactory 
to the Goveryment, and greatly to our convenience and ad- 
vantage. 

In April, 1838, a convention of the officers of the banks 
of the United States was held in New York, for the purpose 
of considering the subject of resuming specie payments. — | 
attended the convention as the representative of our bank. 
In the debates that took place I earnestly favored the propo- 
sition for immediate resumption. The position I took greatly 
pleased the venerable Albert Gallatin, who, aged as he was, 
was the leading spirit of the convention, and who was much 
gratified in finding himself earnestly supported from a quar- 
ter from which he had not expected aid. Ue took occasion 
to thank me personally and warmly for the grounds I took. 
I recollect my interviews with him on this occasion with great 
pleasure. 

At the period of which I have been last speaking, nearly 
all the Western States, Indiana among them, embarked in 
elaborate systems of internal improvements. These were 
entered upon without proper reference to the wants or con- 
ditions of the country, and embraced extensive water lines, 
which were either impracticable or of little value when coin- 
pleted. The different States assumed to provide, by an issue 
of their bonds, the means for their construction. These, 
proving wholly inadequate, failure on a gigantic scale was 
inevitable. For such works the State of Indiana incurred 
a debt of about $10,000,000, without realizing any substan- 
tial benefit therefor. It was still without the works neces- 
sary to give value to its products, by opening to them the 
markets of the East. Wheat raised in the interior of the 
State at the period referred to, would not bring more than 
25 centsthe bushel. Indian corn would not bring more 


- 16 


than one-half this amount. The chief value of the latter 
was to feed it to live stock. There could be no substantial — 
recovery till the works were constructed, which have since 
quadrupled the value of these as well as of all other pro- 
ducts of the States. But years had to elapse before their 
construction could be undertaken with any hope of success. 
The people were too poor to construct them. The credit of 
the States was destroyed: and if it had not been, constitu- 
tional provisions were enacted by most of them forbidding 
them to create adebt for any work of internal improvement. 
A paralysis for a long time seemed to rest upon the whole 
country. After the resumption of specie payments in 1838-9, 
most of the banks of the country again suspended in 1841. 
In fact, no decided recovery took place till the acquisition 
of, and discovery of gold in, California, in 1848, from which 
event may be said to date the physical development of the 
country, which is now the marvel of the world. , 

One of the most important branches of our banking busi- 
ness was the purchase and sale of exchange made by the m- 
ternal commerce of the country. At that time the only out- 
lets of the interior, as far west as Indiana, were the Olio 
andthe Mississippi Rivers. New Orleans was the sole port 
of export. We purchased largely bills drawn against ship- 
ments of produce to this port. As these bills were about to 
mature, it was my custom to go to-New Orleans to invest 
their proceeds, and such other means as our bank could 
spare, in the purchase of bills drawn in New Orleans upon 
shipments of produce from thence to the Eastern States. 
The proceeds of the latter bills, at their maturity, supplied 
us amply with exchange for our Western merchants, in pay- 
ment of their purchases of merchandise. In this way we 
were enabled to turn our capital several times each year, and 
at a good profit, without the loss, I believe, of a single dol- 
lar in any transaction. | : 

I continued in the management of the Madison Branch 
Bank and a member of the Board of Control till 1849, when 











ay 


the subject of railroad construction again began to excite 
general attention and interest. During the twelve years 
that had elapsed since the great calamity of 1837, the West 
had increased rapidly in population and wealth, and the ne- 
cessity for improved highways was felt to be more impera- 
tive than ever. The acquisition of California, and the dis- 
covery of immense deposits of gold within it, gave to the 
whole nation an impulse never before felt. Numerous rail- 
way enterprises were again proposed in the West, and J felt 
that the time had at last come when they could be safely 
undertaken as remunerative investments for capital. [e- 
siding at Madison, Indiana, [ had been instrumental in the 
resuscitation of the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad, orig- 
inally a part of the system of public work which the State 
had attempted to construct, and had learned from the early 
success of that road what might be expected of other lines 
more favorably situated. Jor the purpose, therefore, of 
embarking in the construction of railroads on a wider scale, 
I went to New York in the latter part of 1848, and on the 
first day of January, 1849, I formed a copartnership with 
Mr. Richard H. Winslow, the chief object of which was the 
negotiation of railway securities, although we contemplated, 
in connection therewith, a general banking business. At 
that time there were in operation in the West only about 
600 miles of line.* These roads were chiefly the remains 
of the old State systems which had been sold out to private 
companies, and were almost without exception badly located 





* On the first day of January, 1849, the following lines of railroad were in operation in 
the States north and west of the Ohio River: 
Length of Line. 


See MoE NEST ees ee wih ale Sole gine nt eves aes . 84 miles. 

IAMS Hel ANGM SAMOS. ten <acn .ater osc lees si se Doles 

Ei tren Curae Eu lty. Cente PaPemem stevie ECT sted ma Feieret aes sjates ae are a.» (Oph 
InprAna.-—Madison and Indianapolis......... ........ RSG er 
MLORUGeAn NICO UN WCENTAl. a cicat <ccietuce sce se ceca viveee os 146° 

MAVEN A OUD MELTS oytiyir mie a csc cocks =: -b0i nisi So's), ate! ors Ox 

PPV ACHES CULT A OOM sae a erk ite Clee ai wuls oletens sop dacs oi Beers 

ep rOl i aCe OUEO ee teeta oN xia etna c wes cata aaneicene2O mete 

liminais-—sancamon and Morgan ss. 22 .i.0....0ues5 ots. 53 


OTA sires ae iets 2G ONS OR SB ae 655 miles, 


18 


and imperfectly built. They were in all cases laid with the — 
light flat bar, upon longitudinal sills, and were utterly in- 
capable of sustaining heavy trains, high speed, or a large 


traffic. They had, consequently, involved in heavy loss all _ | 


who had been engaged in their construction. I felt, how- 
ever, their want of success to be no argument against lines 
properly constructed upon good routes. I undertook to de- 
monstrate this in every way in my power, particularly in 
newspaper articles and pamphlets, of which I published great 
numbers in connection with the negotiation of the securi- 
ties of various companies which we undertook. The result 
of our efforts soon far exceeded our expectations. Although 
we began in a very small way, every step we took gave us 
increased business and strength, and we soon had all the — 
business we could attend to. Commencing with the bonds 
of the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad, which were the 
first securities of the kind ever brought out in the New York 
market, we followed them with the bonds of the Little 
Miami; Columbus and Xenia; Cleveland, Columbus and 
Cincinnati; Cleveland, Painesvilleand Ashtabula; Ohio and 
Pennsylvania (now a part of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and 
Chicago); Michigan Southern, and other important lines. 
We not unfrequently negotiated a million of bonds daily. 
The aggregate for the year was enormous. We were with- 
out competitors for a business we had created, and, conse- 
quently, made money very rapidly. The commissions for 
the negotiation of bonds averaged at first five per cent. 
With their negotiation we often coupled contracts for the 
purchase, at a large commission, of rails. Our business soon _ 
became so great that it was a question with us, not so much 
what we would undertake, as what we would reject. We 
not untfrequently took, on our own pease an entire issue 
of bonds of important lines. 


The negotiation of the securities of companies was fol- 
lowed by arrangements that made our house the agent for 





: 
: 





19 


the payment of interest accruing on them, as well as trans- 
fer agents. Such arrangements naturally led the way to 
the banking business to which we afterward chiefly confined 
ourselves. The extent of our business as well as of our suc- 
cess exceeded all expectation. During the period of six 
years, from 1849 to 1854 inclusive, in which we were actu- 
ally engaged in the negotiation of railway securities, 10,724 
miles of line were constructed, nearly one-half of which were 
in the Western States. With all the more important lines 
we were in one way or another connected. At one period 
we paid the interest on fifty different classes of securities. 
These facts will convey some idea of the magnitude of our 
business and the vigor and energy with which it was con- 
ducted. 


The uniform success of the enterprises in behalf of which 
we acted was something remarkable, and has since been a 
source of great satisfaction. I feel that investors, as well as 
the country at large, have been greatly benefited by my 
labors. The interest on almost all the securities brought out 
by us has been regularly paid, while, in not a few instances 
there has been an enormous profit upon the prices paid. Our 
house was the first to bring out county and city securities, 
issued for the construction of railroads. These securities 
were instrumental in the construction of an immense extent 
of line, which, but for them, could not have been built, 
while they have proved a most excellent investment. Inno 
instance, I believe, have the counties and cities, the bonds 
of which we negotiated, made default, either in principal or 
interest. 


Rapid as has been the progress of railroads since we first 
engaged in their construction, that-of their commerce is a 
matter of still greater surprise and wonder. Considered in 
reference to its magnitude, they have created the present 
immense wealth of the nation. Previous to their construc- 
tion, the products of the Anterior, only a short distance re- 





20 


moved from navigable water-courses, had no commercial | | 
value. The greatest abundance of the peculiar products of 
a section might give only an inconsiderable amount of com-— 
fort, and no wealth. With such works, the whole natural 
wealth of the country became at once available to the uses 
of man. When we consider that the commerce of the coun- 
try, borne upon railroads, dates from a period considerably 
subsequent to the time I left the West for New York toem- — 
bark in these enterprises, and that this commerce to-day 
measures, in bulk, 100,000,000 tons, having a value of 
$10,000,000,000, and that the earnings of our railroads equal- 
ed $400,000,000 in 1868, against $40,000,000 in 1851, and 
that the investment in them, now amounting to $1,800,000,- 
000, has increased to like ratio, the vastness and rapidity of | 
this-development will be in some degree appreciated. I have 
not only been contemporaneous with all this growth, and, to 
some extent, instrumental in promoting it, but I reach far 
beyond its first inception. In one respect, therefore, my life, 
as does, in fact, that of every middle-aged man, covers a 
wider experience than that of all the generations of men 
from earliest history to the present time. 

In the West, twenty years ago, precisely the same means 
were used for the transportation of persons and property 
that were used in the very infancy of the race. So, too, 
nearly all the other methods of domestic‘economy were en- 
tirely similar for the two widely-separated periods. _When 
a child, and till Ireached manhood, the clothing I wore was 
made up at home, and by the members of the family. The 
present generation, consequently, have, in all that relates to 
the economy of life, what might be termed an universal ex- | 
perience. The coming one will have only that which be- 
longs to itself.* 


* As already stated, the number of miles of railway in operation in the Western States 
in 1849, the year I removed to New York, was 655. On the first day of January, 1869, twen- 
ty years thereafter, there were 16,889 miles in operation. The number in each State, at the 





21 


At the close of 1854 we withdrew trom the negotiation 
of railway securities, and confined ourselves chiefly to Bank- 
ing, for which our previous success had opened a wide field. 
We, however, continued to be the financial and transter 
agents of a large nwnber of railway companies whose secu- 
rities we had negotiated. 

‘In 1857 the health of Mr. Winslow began to fail. In 
consequence of this he retired from our firm in 1859. He 
died on the 14th of February, 1861. He was a man of rare 
force and energy of character, and, by thoroughly compre- 
hending the value of railways, admirably adapted to the 
business in which we embarked. He had, above all men I 
ever knew, the faculty of inspiring others with the zeal and 
confidence which he himself felt. Whatever he undertook 
was certain to be accomplished. When we consider the re- 
sults that railroads secure—that every mile of line built 
adds, immediately, fourfold its cost to the aggregate value 
of the property of the country, and that the traftic which it 
creates and which passes over it exceeds annually six times 





dates named, is shown in the following table: 








ORION es ok. Le rae ee Oe a Shed QA2 3,398 
{iNT SSE a lea ns Paes ie ~ a 24 1,199 
[LR CAR ENTYS Ss SRR ae a ale ae Sige whe 2,600 , 
ied (Mier CIC oe eeiate ee Bir. s z's, <' cic wale cre tle vce 53 8,440 
AICS Sin <2 be nS — 1,235 
CE TNGISV01 og te ee er A a 572 
OLE fu Sl ae a ea can an a — 1,523 
EROS SAR Oro aa Non SRG cers Cs wnyecsinss _ 648 
IRS SDT STREP ae a ne a Vl Ne mee a _ 920 
REO TIE mare RENO AE nas ala se Sas — 1,354 
Wi Byo< 12/4 aud Cot yare en aoe ee Boe 655 16,889 


The increased railroad mileage in these States, in twenty years, was 16,234 miles, or an 
average of 812 miles annually. The capital invested in them on the first day of January, 
1869, at the rate of $40,000 per mile, equaled $675,556,000—the increase in the twenty years 
being fully $665,000,000. The aggregate tonnage of the roads, for 1869, equaled 1,500 tons 
to the mile, or an aggregate of 25,333,000 tons, of which the increase exceeded 25,00:',000 
tons. The value of this tonnage, at $150 per ton, equaled $3,750,000,000, nearly the whole 
of which was a creation of the period named. These illustrations will show how rapid has 
been the growth of the West for the past twenty years. When I compare its present con- 
dition with what it was forty years ago, I am at a loss for language to express adequately 
the change. ie 





22 


such cost, we can form some idea of the services rendered — 
to society by a man whose energy and influence was instru- 
mental in the construction of an immense extent of line. 
‘He was one of the leading spirits that inaugurated and sus- 
tained the great movement that led to the construction of 
the vast system of works that are now spread, like a net- 
work, over the whole country, and which now embraces 
nearly 50,000 miles of line. Ie never ceased from his la- 
bors till compelled to do so by his declining health. All 
iny relations with him were of a most harmonious character, 
and it gives me great pleasure to pay this tribute to his 
inemory. . 
Although our firm did not, after 1854, negotiate railway 
securities to any considerable extent, we continued to cher- 
ish a lively interest in those enterprises in behalf of which 
we had acted, and frequently rendered them pecuniary as- 
sistance in emergenciesin which they not unfrequently found 
themselves placed. The great movement which commenced 
in 1848 culminated in 1857, in a suspension of specie pay- 
ments by the banks, and in an excessive prostration of busi- 
ness throughout the country. No interest suffered so se- 
verely as the railroads. Nearly all of them had been con- 
structed upon borrowed capital, and most of the companies 
owed large floating debts. All wanted large additional 
means, either to complete their works or to discharge press- 
ing habilities. ven so late as 1858 the earnings of roads 
were not one quarter their present amount. These earnings, 
owing to the embarrassments into which every kind of in- 
dustry and business had fallen, decreased largely for several 
years, and in many cases proved wholly inadequate to meet 
even the calls for interest. Many of our most valuable en- 
terprises were forced into bankruptcy, and had to be reor- 
ganized by new adjustments of interests, and, in most eases, 
by large sacrifices on the part of the stock and bondholders. 
A period of great general depression and discouragement 
followed one of previous confidence and hope. In this crisis. 


a 


23 


it devolved naturally upon parties who had been instru- 
mental in providing the means forthe construction of roads 
to raise them from their depressed condition, and place them, 
if possible, in a position in which they could be successfully 
worked and realize the expectations formed of them. Among 
the companies that yielded to the financial storm was the 
Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago—a company with which 
I had been early identified, whose securities we had nego- 
tiated, and for whose good name and success I was most 
solicitous. ‘To its restoration I consequently devoted no 
small portion of my time, till all its embarrassments were 
happily surmounted, and the road placed in a position of 
perfect independence, in which it proved itself to be one of 
the most valuable enterprises of the kind in the United 
States. Perhaps I cannot better show the difficulties into 
which this work, in common with many others, had fallen, 
and of its subsequent recovery, than by copying the follow- 
ing article in reference thereto from the New York Zimes 
newspaper, under date of July 21, 1869. 

“Tn 1859 the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad, 
in common with most other lines, was overwhelmed in the 
financial revulsion which had swept with resistless force over 
the whole country. The road had been just opened to Chi- 
cago. The line was originally undertaken by three companies, 
none of which possessed means at all adequate to the construc- 
tion of their several links. The road when opened was hardly 
more than half completed. Its earnings, not equaling one quarter 
their present amount, were wholly insufficient to meet current ex- 
penses and the interest on its funded debt. Default, by necessary 
consequence, was made on all classes of its securities. Bank- 
ruptcy stared the concern full in the face, threatening the loss of 
nearly the whole amount invested. 

In this crisis a meeting of its creditors, chiefly first mortgage 
bondholders, was ealled at the office of Winslow, Lanier & Co., 
to consider what was to be done. ‘This class of creditors, of 
course, had the precedence. If they insisted upon the letter of 
the law, they would inevitably cut off all subsequent parties in 


2 


interest, who represented an amount of capital invested in the 


road twice greater. After much deliberation, it was decided to . : 


raise a committee to be invested with full power, and, if possible, — 
save the interests of all. This committee consisted of Mr. J. F. 
D. Lanier, who was appointed by the creditors its chairman; Mr. — 
Samuel J. Tilden, Mr. Louis H. Meyer, Mr. J. Edgar Thomson, 
President of the Pennslyvania Railroad, and Mr Samuel Hanna 
of Fort Wayne. ‘To give some idea of the chaos existing in the 
affairs of the company, we may state that there were outstanding, — 
at the time, nine different classes of bonds, secured in one way or — 
another, upon the different portions of the road; two classes 
secured by real estate belonging to the Company, and several 
issued in the funding of coupons. Upon all these, interest for 
several years, amounting to many millions of dollars, was overdue. 
The principal sums of several of the first mortgages were speedily 
to mature. The Company also owed more than $2,000,000 of 
floating debt, portions of it in the form of judgments recovered in 
the State courts.. The road was in extremely bad condition, and 
required the expenditure of a large sum to enable it to conduct its 
business with any degree of economy or dispatch. 

Such was the condition of affairs when the Committee commenced 
work. The value of the securities of the Company was merely 
nominal. Its stock would not sell for five cents on the dollar. 
Hach class of creditors was striving to gain some advantage at the 
expense of the others. The first step of the Committee, conse- 
quently, was to put the property beyond the reach of individuals 
and in the custody of the courts. An order for this purpose was 
obtained in the United States District Court for the Northern 
District of Ohio, on the 17th of January, 1860, and Mr. Wm. B. 
Ogden was appointed receiver. 

The Committee set out with the determination of preserving, if — 
possible, the rights of all the parties in interest—not aione those 
of the first mortgage bondholders. It was hoped that when the 
property was. put beyond the reach of individual creditors, an 
arrangement might be effected and the rights of the various parties 
preserved in the relations they had previously maintained. But 
such an adjustment required the assent of each creditor and stock- 
holder. This, in the multiplicity and conflict of interests, it was 





25 


found impossible to obtain. The next, and only remaining course, 
was to sell the road and property of the Company by an order of 
Court in behalf of the first mortgagees. Such sale would vest 
absolutely the title to the road in the hands of the purchasers, who 
would thus be in position to make such disposition of it as in their 
view equity and justice might demand It would also enable them 
to apply the net earnings to the construction of a good road, with- 
out which the investment itself would be of no value. 

With this purpose, a full plan of reorganization, such as was 
finally adopted, was prepared and published, and brought, as far 
as possible, to the attention of every party in interest. Decrees 
for sale had to be obtained in the Courts of the United States for 
four different States. The time required for this purpose was 
occupied by the Committee in incessant efforts in removing one 
impediment after another thrown in their way by importunate and 
dissatisfied creditors, who were indifferent to the fate of the con- 
cern, provided they could get their pay. All difficulties were at 
last overcome, and on, the 24th of October, 1861, the road and 
property was sold at auction, and purchased by Mr. Lanier, in be- 
half of himself and his associates, for the sum of $2,000,000. 
The Courts, we are happy to say, facilitated legal proceedings as 
far as this could be properly done. They had full confidence in 


the Committee, and sympathized with the unfortunate creditors of 


the concern, and not, as at the present day, in our State, with 
bands of conspirators against the public welfare, who seek the con- 
trol of great lines with no other purpose but to plunder them. 
Hight years ago, measured by what has since transpired, was a 
golden age of judicial purity. ; 

By the sale of the road a most important step was gained. The 
title to it vested, absolutely, in the purchasers. They could con- 
vey it to whom, at what price and upon what terms they pleased. 
What followed was more a matter of detail, though involving great 
patience and labor. Tor the creation of a new Company, accord: 
ing to the original plan of reorganization, legislation had to be 
obtained in the States of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. 
Such legislation was at last secured, a new company formed, to 
which was conveyed the railroad and everything appertaining 
thereto, the Committee receiving therefor, first, second, and third 


26 


mortgage bonds, in amounts sufficient to meet the sums dud te 
different classes of creditors in the old Company ; ard also certifi . 


stot 


cates of Stock corresponding in amouut to that outst ing in " ; a 


old. First mortgage bonds, to the amount of $5,. °7,000, 


issued to the first mortgage bondholders of the old Company, a | 4 : 
of the several links of which its road was composed, and for gl 


accrued interest. The bondholders were also required to fund, for 
two years, the interest accruing on the new bonds, so as to allow, 
for such a period, the application of the net earnings to constric- 
tion. The second mortgage bondholders received, in the satne 
manner, and subject to similar conditions, second mortgage bonds 
to the amount of $5,250,000. The unsecured creditors were 
paid off in third mortgage bonds to the amount of $2,000,000. 
The shareholders received new certificates in exchange for the 
old. By such means each class of creditors, without the abate- 
ment of a dollar, were fully and completely reinstated in the new 
Company in the order they stood in the old. The proper trans- — 
fers and exchanges were made, and on the Ist day of May, 1862, 
two years and six months aiter the road was placed in the hands 
of a receiver, and six months after the sale, the trust, so long 
held and faithfully executed, was brought to a virtual close, to the 
entire satisfaction of every party in interest in the road. 

During the period of reorganization the road was operated, 
under the general direction of the Committee, by Geo. W. Cass, 
its former and subsequent President. His well-known abilities as 
a railroad manager were never more conspicuously displayed than 
in this service. He had every difficulty to contend with—an im- 
poverished and half-completed road, with clamorous creditors at 
every turn. The Chairman of the Committee was not unfrequently 
called upon to advance, from his private funds, considerable sums 
in aid of the operations of the road. Such advances were, of 
course, repaid, but only with simple interest. The good name 
ard financial strength of Mr Lanier, joined to his well known 
prudence and caution, tended to, inspire great confidence in the 
action of the Committee in which he justly exerted great influence. 
Mr. Thomson’s position as chief of a great and successful enter- 
prise, enabled him to render very great aid to the Committee in 
the operations of the road. Indeed, it was through his instru- 








27 


mentality that the old company was enabled to push its line 
through to Chicago. Mr. Tilden was the chief legal adviser of 
the Committee and Company throughout. He had charge of the 
proceedings, not only for the winding-up of the old, but for the for- 
mation of the new Company, and for the recent transfer of the road 
to the Pennsylvania Company, and drew up all the documents 
and guarantees relating to the same. ‘The proper discharge of his 
duties involved the fate and security of the whole investment. 
_ Not a suggestion has been ever raised that they were not ably 
and faithfully performed. The directors of the Company, pending 
its reorganization, rendered valuable assistance. Many of them 
resided upon the line of the road, and were enabled to exert a 
salutary influence, not only among the creditors of the Company, 
but in securing the legislation required. But it is, perhaps, in- 
vidious to particularize when all worked faithfully and well. Not 
a dollar was ever paid to secure the legislation required for the 
formation of the new Company; not a dollar to buy off importu- 
nate or unreasonable creditors. The Committee never had a 
secret which they turned to account at the expense of the stock 
and bondholders. Their plans were prepared and published in the 
outset, and scrupulously adhered to. 

Soon after the new Company commenced operations it was seen 
the enterprise had passed its darkest days. lor the year ending 
December 31, 1862, the net earnings of the road equaled nearly 
$2,000,000, all of which were applied to construction. The Com- 
mittee was enabled to add largely to its available means by the sale 
of property purchased with the road, but not needed in its future 
operations, and which, in fact, they were not, by the terms of the 
trust, to account for to the new Company. The sums realized 
from these sources, and paid over to the Company, equaled about 
$600,000, of which some $400,000 was saved by a compromise 
which the Committee were enabled to make with European holders 
of bonds secured by real estate. All the advantages gained by 
such settlements were given to the new Company. 

In 1863 the net earnings equaled nearly $3,000,000. These 
sums enabled the Company to place its read in first-rate condi- 
tion; and on the Ist day of April, 1864, it commenced the pay- 
ment of dividends at the rate of 10 per cent. per annum, free of 


28 





Government tax, in quarterly payments of 23 per cent. each 
These were continued regularly to the lst day of July, 1869, when | 
the road was leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for — 


999 years, at an annual rental of 12 per cent. on its share capital. 


In this lease the Pennsylvania Company assumes every obliga- 
tion or charge for which the Fort Wayne Company are, or may be, 


liable. It pays the sum of $19,000 annually for the maintenance __ 


of the organization of the former. It keeps up the annual contri- 


butions to the sinking fund. These contributions will, in twenty- . 


six years, wholly pay off the bonded debt of the Fort Wayne Com- 


pany, leaving the stockholders the sole owners of the road; and, — 4 


in conclusion, it agrees to pay an annual rental of $1,380,000, a 
sum which equals 12 per cent. annually upon the stock, free of 
Government tax, or of any other charge. The terms of the lease 
also allow the Fort Wayne Company to increase its share capital 
seventy-one and three-sevenths per cent., and to issue certificates for 
the whole capital, upon which, for the entire period of the lease, 
seven per cent. a year, in quarterly payments of one and three quarters 
per cent, free of Government tax, is to be paid. All these pay- 
ments, as well as the accruing interest, are to be made directly to 
the agency of the Fort Wayne Company, in New York. When 
we consider that the net earnings of the road largely exceed the 
rental paid, and that this rental is guaranteed by the most power- 
ful and successful railroad corporation on this Continent, and that 
the lease will inure even more to its advantage than te that of the 
lessors, in placmg a common line under a common head and man- 
agement, certainly it is not within the power of man to make a 


better security, or one in which trust funds can be more securely — 


placed. 

We have thus put on record a detailed statement of the resus- 
citation and success of a great enterprise, as an example of what 
has been and may be accomplished by upright, able and public- 
spirited men. In no country do railways bear a relation to the - 
internal economy of a people so intimate as in ours. No invest- 
ments, consequently, can be so productive as those made in good and ~ 
well-managed lines. There is no doubt that the gross earnings of 
the railroads of the Northern States equal fully 30 per cent. an- 
nually of their actual cost. One-third of this, at least, should be 





eae 


29 


net, and we take pleasure in placing an illustration before our 
readers. where the best possible net result has not only been 
secured, but secured as it should be, to those who are and have 
been the owners of the property.” 


I have given this statement as an example of what patient 
labor and watchfulness may accomplish under similar cir- 
cumstances. We not only saved a vast property, at one 
time, to all appearances, wholly wrecked, but made it one 
of the most productive railroads in the country, and finally 
leased it in perpetuity to one of the richest and most  pros- 
perous corporations in the United States—the Pennsylvania 
Railroad Company—at an annual rental of 12 per centum 
per annum, after making full provision for the principal and 
interest of its debts. _ An immense investment was not 
only saved, but rendered productive almost beyond prece- 
dent; and with it, great numbers of persons whose means 
were invested in the road saved from poverty anc want. 
In their comfort and happiness I am well repaid for the 
toil and anxiety which I underwent on account of this 
work. 


In 1860, the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency of 
the United States, an event which I earnestly desired, was 
followed by mutterings of the coming storm, which soon 
burst upon the country with resistless violence. I was too 
old to take the field, but I gave whatever aid and encour- 
agement | could to the cause of the Union. It was not 
long, however, before I was called upon to assume more res- 
ponsible duties, on account of the relations which I had 
sustained for the State of Indiana. That State voted for 
Mr. Lincoln, and at the same time elected State officers in 
political sympathy with him. The Hon. Henry 8. Lane, 
who had been elected Governor of the State, was chosen by 
the Legislature, upon its assembling, as Senator in the Con- 
gress of the United States. By this event, the Hon, O. P. 


30) 


Morton, Lieutenant Governor, became the chief Magistrate. 


The war found the State almost wholly without means for 


€ 


arming, equipping or sending into the field the quota of 


troops required of it. It had no money in its treasury, and 
in the general distrust which prevailed, and in the universal 
scramble for money, for all the loyal States, as well as the 
Federal Government, were in the market for it, it was found 
impossible to sell its bonds, or to provide in season, from its 
own resources, the means required. In this dilemma Goy- 
ernor Morton applied to me for a loan of money to arm and 
equip the quota of troops required of his State. I complied 
with his request, and continued such advances as they were 


required, till the whole amount reached $400,000. With, 
this sum he was enabled to arm and equip his quota in a 


most satisfactory manner, and despatch it to the field more 
promptly than that of any other Western State. Indiana 
at all times was nearly equally divided upon the subject of 
the war. Whatever, consequently, tended to inspire the 
confidence and raise the spirits of the Union party within 
it, greatly strengthened the hand of the Executive, and had 
a most important and favorable influence upon the great 
contest. 

In 1862, owing to the reverses that had befallen the Union 
arms, the elections in many of the States went adversely to 
the National cause. In Indiana a majority of the members 
returned to the Legislature for that year were bitterly op- 
posed to the war, and to all measures necessary for its vig- 
orous prosecution. They were determined, if possible, to 
take the State out of the Unionranks, and place it in direct 
antagonism to the Government at Washington. The success 
of their disloyal schemes might have proved fatal to the 
great cause. None understood this better than themselves. 
Indiana was not only one of the leading States of the West, 
but in many respects it occupied a position of first-rate im- 
portance. It was centrally situated, and extending from 
Lake Michigan to the Ohio, it would, in disloyal hands, 


31 


have been in a position to cut off all communication betweeti 
the West and the East. Its southern border rested upon 
territory where the great mass of the people were strongly 
infected with the spirit of rebellion. This State, conse-— 
quently, became emphatically the battle-ground of the con- 
test in the North. If its influence had been arrayed 
against the Union, the infection might have spread to other 
States, as there were in all abundant material eager to take 
advantage of any event that might embarrass or defeat the 
action of the Government. <A united front on ‘the part of 
all the Northern States was absolutely essential to sue- 
cess. Such a front, happily, was preserved throughout the 
whole war. 


The plan adopted by the disloyal members of the Legis-. 
lature of Indiana was to divest the Governor of all power 
Over the militia, and to vest the control of the same in a 
committee of their own creatures. They refused to pass 
the necessary appropriation bills till their schemes should 
become a law. To defeat their plans the only course left to 
the loyal members was to retire froru the Legislature, which 


“they did. That body, consequently, was left without a 


quorum. Their retirement put an end to the iniquitous 
projects, but it left the Governor without the means of 
preserving the credit of the State. It was held by the Su- 
preme Court of the State that without a special act he could 
not pay the interest accruing on the State debt, although 
it had been previously supposed that the Constitution of 
the State had provided for such a payment without any 
special law. 


In this emergency Governor Morton, most anxious to pre- 
serve the honor and credit of the State, applied to me to ad- 
vance the sums necessary for the purpose. Unless this could 
be done he felt that he could not justify, before his own 
State and the country, the position which his friends in the 
Legislature had taken through his council and advice. The 


F; 
“ = , 
+ one” a 
1 





application was made at the darkest period of the ole 
war. I could haveno security whatever, and could rely for De. 
reimbursement only on the good faith of a Legislature to be ‘ ; 4 
chosen at a future and distant day, and upon the chances of a 
its being made up of more upright and patriotie members 
than those composing the one then in existence. If the a 
ereat contest should turn out disastrously to the cause of the 
Union and of freedom, [I could never expect to be repaid a 
dollar. I felt, however, that on no account must the debt of 
a great State be discredited, nor the position of its Chief 
Magistrate, the ablest and most efficient of all the loyal Govy- 
ernors, and who of all contributed most to our success, be 
compromised or weakened. No alternative was left to me 
but to advance the sums required. I would not allow my- 
self to be responsible for the consequences of a refusal of 
his request. If the credit of the State in such a critical 
period should be destroyed, that of the other States, and 
even the Federal Government, might be so impaired as to ~ 
render it impossible for them to sustain the immense burdens 
of the war. Another influence of very great weight with 
me was an ambition to maintain the credit of a State with 
which I had so long been identified, to which I was in- 
debted for my start in life, and for whose credit in former 
times I had earnestly labored. The last, perhaps, was the 
ruling motive. I accordingly addressed a note to theagent 
of the State for the payment of the interest, offering to pay 
that falling due July 1st, 1863, and requesting him to sup- 
ply me with a list of the holders of the State stocks. He i 
peremptorily refused to furnish such list, being himself one 
of the conspirators in destroying the State credit. A list 
had to be procured from other sources of information. As — 
soon as this was obtained, I commenced the payment of in- 
terest, which was thereafter promptly paid by me on the 
days it fell due. These payments were continued two years. 
The whole amount advanced by me on this account was a 
$640,000. Inthe meantime the State was practically with- — 


33 


~ 


out a Legislature. The disloyal members were constantly in 
the expectation that the Governor would be compelled to 


call them together, as the only means of enabling him to 


carry on the government. The Governor well knew that 
if they were called together, they would take from him the 
power to coutrol the militia of the State, and he determined 
to hold out, which he did, till a new Legislature should be 
chosen. 


The following extracts taken from the message of Gov. 
Morton, made to the General Assembly of Indiana, Jan. 6, 
1865, gives a brief and succinct history of the efforts made 
to destroy the credit of the State, and to embarrass its ac- 
tion in the war, and of the aid rendered by our house in 
defeating them : 


“Shortly after the Legislature adjourned, the question was 
sprung as to the existence of legal appropriations for the payment 
of the interest upon the public debt, and the opinion of the Attor- 
ney General was published, denying their existence and any 
power to withdraw the money from the Treasury to pay the in- 
terest, which opinion was indorsed and acted upon by Mr. Ristine, 
the Auditor of State. Beheving that the question had its origin 
in political considerations, and that there was little room to doubt 
as to the legal rignt and duty of the Treasurer to remit the money 
to New York to pay the interest, I at once took issue with these 
gentlemen. ‘The State had failed to pay the interest upon her 
bonds from 1841 to 1847, during which time she acquired a repu- 
tation for repudiation and bankruptcy, from which she only re- 
covered after many years of faithful discharge of her obligations. 
The dark cloud which had thus been placed upon her financial 
character had seriously retarded her growth in wealth and popula- 
tion, deterring emigration trom other States. In 1846, she effected 
a compromise with most of her creditors, by the transfer of the 


Wabash and Hrie Canal for one-half of her debt, and issuing new 


stock for the other half; upon which she solemnly pledged herself 
to pay the interest semi-annually. 


This pledge, and the legislation had in pursuance of the com- 


Ba a 


. 





promise, was treated by Governor Whitcomb and the various officers 
of State, as a valid appropriation of the money necessary to pay the a 
interest under the old Constitution, which upon this subject is ike 


the present. In 1850, the framers of the new Constitution, by the 


twentieth section of the tenth article, solemnly ratified this contract _ : 
with the bondholders, by appropriating all the revenue of the State, 


derived from taxation for general State purposes, after defraying the 


ordinary expenses of the State government, to the payment of the 
interest and the liquidation of the principal of the public debt. It — 


was clearly the purpose of the new Constitution to place the credit 


of the State beyond the contingency of dishonor by acts of omis- 
sion or prohibition on the part of the Legislature. Under the new 
Constitution, further legislation to pay the interest was not 
deemed necessary, and this construction was acted upon by all 
administrations down to 1863; although, perhaps, in one case, a 
formal appropriation was made without any definite purpose. An 
action for a mandamus against the Auditor was commenced by 
Mr. W. H. Talbott, President of the Sinking Fund Board, for the 
avowed purpose of having the question settled, which was carried 
through the Circuit and Supreme Courts, and resulted in a decision, 
by the latter, against the existence of an appropriation. Without 
intending any disrespect to the eminent tribunal by which this 
case was decided, I must be permitted to observe that the history 
of its origin, progress and conclusion was such as to deprive it of 
any moral influence, and that the principles upon which the deci- 
sion was made have been since openly disregarded by the Auditor 
and ‘l'reasurer of State in the payment of large sums of money to 
the Public Printer. But leaving out of view wholly who was 
right cr wrong upon the legal question, it was a matter of the first’ 
importance that the obligations of the State should be promptly 
met, and her credit rescued from the disaster of a new dishonor. 


It had received a shock in the discovery and exposure of the _ 


Stover forgery of our State stocks amounting to nearly three | 
millions of dollars, from the evil consequences of which it was re- 
lieved only by a determined effort on the part of the State authori- 
ties to bring the criminals to justice. No argument was required — 
to prove that, should it again become impaired by a serious failure 
upon the part of the State to .meet her engagements, it could not 
be restored during this generation, and the progress of the State 





od oe 


in wealth and population would receive a serious check. Deter- 
mined, if possible, to avert the threatened calamity, I went to 
New York and laid the whole matter before the house of Messrs. 
Winslow, Lanier & Co., with the request that they should advance: 
the amount necessary to pay the interest, until such time as the 
Treasury might be unlocked, and the money obtained therefrom. 
My request was generously met, and, after full consideration, 
acceded to, provided a correct list of the stockholders could be 
obtained. It is proper to state that, in making this arrangement, 
no stipulation was asked for or given, in regard to the compensa- 
tion they should receive for the use of their money, and the risk 
and trouble they should incur; but the whole matter was referred 
to the future action and good faith of the State. They at once 
notified John C. Walker, Avent of State, of their readiness to pay 
the interest, and asked him to furnish, from his books, a list of the 
Stockholders, for the making out of which they offered to pay. 
This he peremptorily refused, and denied access to his books, 
from which they desired *to copy the list. They then proposed to 
him that he should pay the interest in the usual way upon his own 
books, agreeing to honor his checks issued therefor, at the same 
time exonerating him from all personal liability for any moneys so 
paid. This offer was likewise refused. ‘The correspondence be- 
tween Winslow, Lanier & Co. and Walker upon this subject, is 
herewith submitted for your consideration. 

‘\s Messrs. Winslow, Lanier & Co. would not take the respon- 
sibility of paying, in the absence of a correct list, owing to the 
existence of a large amount of spurious stock, which otherwise 
they had no means of detecting, the interest which fell due on the 
first day of July, 1863, went unpaid. Determined not to be de- 
feated, if possible, in the effort to preserve the credit of the State, 
I attempted to secure from other sources a correct list of the stock- 
holders, and in this attempt succeeded, in November. Inthe 
meantime the necessity for action had become more manifest and 
imperative than before. While the American stockholders had a 
correct knowledge of the state of affairs, and but few stocks were 
changing hands or being offered in the market, the case was quite 
different with our stockholders in Europe. In Europe, American 
polities are always badly understood, and the principal fact, which 


56 | 





they clearly comprehended, was, that they did not receive their a 
interest. They associated this failure with that of 1841, and be- ~ 
ean to say that there was some strange fatality attending Indiana — * 
securities, and declared their intention of sending them back to 2 
America and getting clear of them at once and forever. Such a — 
measure would have given the State a bad name abroad, corona 
affecting emigration to her borders, and would have been followed 
by great depreciation and loss of credit throughout the United 4 4 
States. a 
Having presented the list to Messrs. Winslow, Lanier & Co. 
they promptly renewed their offer, and gave public notice eat 3 
they would pay the back interest which fell due in July, and 
afterward gave further notice that they would pay the interest 
accruing on the Ist day of January, 1864; the Ist day of July, 
_ 1864, and the Ist day of January, 1865; and up to the 31st of © ‘ 
November last, as Tam advised, had paid out four hundred and = 
sixteen thousand six hundred and seventy-seven dollars and onl e 
cents. ie. 
How much they have paid since the Ist of January, 1865, lam 
not advised, but presume it will make the aggregate as muchas 
five hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. The nobleand 
generous conduct of this house should and will be appreciated by : 
the people of Indiana; and Mr. Lanier, in his clear comprehen- — 
sion and able management of the affair, has displayed not only 
financial ability, but a broad statesmanship not often exhibited in 
financial affairs. a 
I trust that the generous confidence which he has reposed in q 
the good faith of the people of Indiana will not be disappointed, =~ 
and that the Legislature will hasten to reimburse him for the — ; a 
money he has expended, and indemnify him for the use of it, and 
for the trouble he has incurred. | 
In conclusion, upon this subject, I am glad to be able ms Say, a 
that the credit of the State has been fully preserved; and that her  _ 
stocks now command a higher price, relatively, in the market,  _ 
when compared with stocks of other States, bearing like interest, — 
than at any former period in her history.” 





37 


In 1864 the Presidential election again took place. Mr. 
Lincoln was a candidate for re-election to the Presidency of 
the United States, as was Mr. Morton for the governorship 
of Indiana. This State was one of the first to vote in the 
fall elections of that year. Its action, in view of the events 
that had occurred in it, could not fail to be regarded as the 
key-note of the campaign, if not conclusive of the great con- 
test that was speedily to follow. In that State the canvass 
pecessarily turned upon the extraordinary condition of 
things that had existed in it for two years; upon the policy 
of the Union party in breaking up the Legislature ; the re- 
fusal of the Governor to re-assemble it, and upon the re- 
sponsibil'ty he assumed of paying the interest on the State 
debt without provision of law. One of the ablest men in 
the State was nominated as his opponent. The two can- 
vassed the State, Governor Morton in vindication, and his 
competitor in condemnation, of the policy and course that 
had been pursued. . It was a contest in which Mr. Lincoln 
took a very deep interest, not only from its significance in 
reference to his own election, but from the interest he took 
in that of Mr. Morton, who, of all the civilians in the United 
States, probably rendered the most efficient and valuable 
service in putting down the great rebellion. 

In the canvass before the people, Mr. Morton acquitted 
himself with transcendent ability. Mr. Lincoln, in reading a 
report of the speech of Mr. Morton, by which it was opened, 
said, ‘That settles the Presidential election.” The result 
fully justified his expectation. Mr. Morton everywhere car- 
ried the people with him, and upon no issues more heartily 
than in their approva! of the policy of the Union party, 
which, to avert a greater evil, had left the State without 
a Legislature for two years, and of the steps by which its 
faith and good name had been maintained. He was 
elected by more than 20,000 majority, in the most heated 
canvass ever known in the State.. The result there turned 
public sentiment everywhere in favor of the Adminis- 


~ with the adjustment of the debt of the State of Indiana in a 
























tration; and in the following month, Mr. Lincoln | as 
elected to the Presidency by the sirooee unanimous voice 0 a 
the North. | 





bers were ‘ae to the Lesisldtire by vihione provision = 
was made for the repayment of the sums I had advanced, 
with no other compensation than interest on the amount, 
which was all I desired or would have received. I had 
however, the most gratifying proofs of the esteem which my i 
action had secured for me throughout the State. Every 
loyal man felt that I had averted a disgrace in which he s 
must have shared. The effect upon the politics of the State 
was decisive. It has ever since been a steady supporter of 
the Union cause. At the next vacancy occurring in the — 
Senate of the United States, Mr. Morton was chosen to fill — a 
the place, which he now holds in a manner both honorable a 
to himself and the State. 7 3 


° ° e ° ry Big a . 
I omitted to meution, in its proper order, my connection —__ 


1847. As already remarked, that State had previously — Rei 
embarked in elaborate systems of public works, the means a 
for the prosecution of which were wholly raised by sales of — 
bonds. In the embarrassments which followed, the State 
made default in the payment of interest on these bonds, and | 
remained in default till the amount due reached the sum ote 
about $12,000,000, of which sum $4,000,000 were for inter-— 
est. At the session of the Legislature of the State for q 
1846-7, an act was passed for an adjustment of the debt, 
commonly called the “ Butler Act,” authorizing an issue to 2 & 
the holders of the old bonds, of a five per cent. inscribed . 
State Stock, to an amount equaling one-half that of said — 
bonds; and a transfer, to Trustees, for the benefit of the a 
bondholders, of the Wabash and Erie Canal, with the lands | 
belonging to the same, upon the condition of the surrender _ r 





39 


of the old bonds—the payment of the other half of these 
bonds being chargeable upon the canal and its revenues. 


It became necessary, therefore, that some person should 
visit Europe for the purpose of explaining the financial con- 
dition of the State, to secure the assent of such bondhold- 
ers as had’ not acceded to the proposition made them, and 
to make the exchanges of securities. I was appointed to 
this mission, and proceeded to Europe early in the summer 
of 1847. The new securities to be issued, viz.: the certiti- 
cates of State stock, and of ownership in the canal, were 
placed in my hands fully executed, with the exception of 
dates, amounts, and names of parties to whom they were to 
be issued. These I was authorized to insert on making the 
exchanges. I was accredited to Sir J. Horsley Palmer, then 
Governor of the Bank of England—a staunch friend of the 
United States, and whose place of business in London I 





made my headquarters; to Baron N. M. Rothschild, of Lon- 


don; to Baron James Rothschild, of Paris; to the house of 
Hope & Company, of Amsterdam—these parties, or the 
houses with which they were connected, holding or controll- 
ing large amounts of the bonds. Immediately upon my 
arrival in London, I prepared and published a statement 
embodying the plan of settlement proposed, and urging, with 
what arguments I could adduce, its acceptance. My du- 
ties brought me into intimate contact with the gentlemen 
named, and also with Mr. Labouchere, then manager of the 
house of Hope & Co., of Amsterdam. I had occasion, in 
the execution of my mission, to visit, several times, the cities 
named, and also Geneva, Switzerland, where some of the 
State bonds were held. The result was, that I was enabled 
to get up nearly all the outstanding bonds, and was in this 
way instrumental in placing the credit of the State on the 
firm basis upon which it has ever since rested. The State 
immediately entered upon a career of prosperity, which has 
never flagged to the present moment. A virtual repudiation 


40 


had destroyed its public spirit, and had been a bar to capital a 
and immigration coming into it. Since the funding of the | ee: a 


debt, no state in the Union has made more rapid progress — 


than Indiana. It has constructed 3,000 miles of railroad. ~ 
These works now penetrate every portion of its territory. — 
Its debt has been almost wholly paid to the holders, by tax- — 
ation, or from the proceeds of the school fund arising from 
the profits accruing from the interest of the State in the — 
State Bank. The benefits resulting from the adjustment Of 


this debt have been almost galeria aie 


I was not. only successful in my mission, but I-had a most 


agreeable visit—my first to Europe. I was most kindly re- — 


ceived by all the parties to whom I was accredited, and by 
others. Mr. Labouchere’s ancestors, like my own, were Hu- 


guenots, and were driven out of France about the same time — 


that mine were, and for a similar cause—adherence to the 
principles of the Reformation. THis ancestors fled to Hol- 


land; mine to America. <A kindred ancestry, as it were, — 


and a kindred experience brought us into close sympathy. 


Sir Horsley Palmer also. treated me with gratifying atten- 
tion, and invited me to his princely country seat at Ful- a 


‘Gey on the Thames, a few miles from London. The ae- 


quaintances I then made were of immense service to me in _ 
the business in which I. subsequently engaged, and have — 


added greatly to the pleasure of subsequent visits to Eng- 
land and to the Continent. 





- 
= 
px 

a ee 


On my return home I delivered up the bonds I hadtaken 4 
up, together with the unused certificates of State and Canal — ie “4 
Stock. My accounts were settled most satisfactorily, and 1 


received the thanks of the State authorities for the manner 
I had executed the trust contided to me. 


In 1865, as I was about to visit Europe, I received com- 
munications, copies of which I gave elsewhere, from the 


Secretary Of the Treasury and the Secretary of State of the 


United States, requesting me to act, in its behalf, in ex 1 








41 


plaining to capitalists abroad the character of our public 
debt and the means and disposition of our people for its 
payment. This mission I undertook with earnestness, be- 
ing fully persuaded that no better securities could be made 


than these of the United States. This conviction I sought, 
with whatever power I possessed, to impress upon others. 


At Frankfort-on-the-Maine, I was formally invited to ad- 
dress a public meeting of Bankers and Capitalists upon the 
subject of my mission. It was largely attended, and I had 
an opportunity not only to submit some detailed remarks, 
but for a free and full conference with gentlemen compo- 
sing the meeting, nearly all of whom could speak my native 
tongue. My remarks were published in German and Eng- 


lish, and freely distributed, through the Consulates, through- 


out the Continent and England. I believe they were in- 
strumental of much good as they embodied the arguments 
in favor of our securities in a concise form, and in one that 
had not been previeusly presented, and one that could be 
used by others, particularly my own countrymen, equally 
with myself. Of these [ annex a copy: 


“RemMArKs OF Mr. J. F. D. LAnteR, MADE at A MEETING OF 
BANKERS AND CAPITALISTS, AT FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAINE, 
ON THE 14TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 1865. 


The national debt of the United States, on the first of August 
of the present year, was, in round numbers, $2,720,000,000, to 
wit: 


Debt bearing interest payable in gold = — — $1,108,000,000 
«6 ‘6 ee as in currency — 1,053,000,000 
2 no interess -— - —* — 559,000,000 


It is estimated, upon the most competent authority, that the 
national debt, after all the expenses of the war are finally liqui- 
dated, will not exceed $3,000,000,000. 


The revenues of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 


30, 1865, were $318,251,589 10, of which $82,000,000 were in 


gold, from Customs. 







estimated at $396,000,000, of which $80,000,000 will be in gol 
from Customs, $300,000,000 from internal taxes, and $16,000 _ 
from lands and aCe Bee sources. ny 





of the Federal Goverment and other ince 
These estimates were made in June last, at the commencement — a 
of the fiscal year. Since that time the receipts from customs have 4 4 
increased so rapidly, that instead of $80,000,000, as estimated, @ 
the revenue from this source, in gold, may reach $130,000,000.  - 
This increase is largely owing to the trade which has been 
opened up at the South smce the suppression of the rebellion. 
Although the war destroyed for a time the commerce and industry a 
of this section, and deprived the people of the ability to maintain - 
their railroads and to navigate their rivers, and left them little but 
the cotton which had been accumulated, this is found to be suffi- 
cient to furnish a very large amount of means with which to sup- — 
ply their wants, and lay, anew, the foundations of their prosperity. __ 
The receipts of cotton from the South, at New York, equal 20,000 
bales weekly, and have been followed by corresponding exports to a 
that section of supplies, and whatever is necessary to the restora- — : P 
tion and development of its resources. 


The national debt of England at the end of the war with France, 
in 1816, amounted to $4,205,000,000. It has since been reduced 
only $250,000,000. It equaled’ $218 20 to each individual, and — 
40%, per cent. of the aggregate value of the whole property of the i 
Kingdom. Since the battle of Waterloo her wealth has grown at 
a slow but steadily increasing rate—from 20 per cent. in the first, 
to 41 per cent. in the last ten years, thereby reducing the burden __ 
of the debt from 404, per cent. on the national wealth, to 12 per 
cent. = 
The census of 1860 showed the wealth of the loyal States to be — = 
$10,716,000,000, and a yearly product $2,870,000,000 in value, 
or 265 per cent. of their aggregate capital. 

The wealth of the loyal States increased, in the ten years be- 
tween 1850 and 1860, at the rate of 126 per cent., or 84 per cent. — 





43 


per annum. Assuming these amounts and rates as a basis, we 
have for June, 1865, a wealth of $16,112,000,000, and an annual 
product of $4,318,000,000, without making any estimates on ex- 
ports. 

In 1833 the national wealth of England was estimated at $17,- 
200,000,000. For the United States the figures given are by no 
means estemates, but are results accurately obtained through the 
Census Bureau. These results enable us to estimate the amount 
of the national wealth at the close of future periods, to wit: 


In 1870 the national wealth will equal — — $24,218,000,000 
In 1880 « , “ —~  ~48,436,000,000 
In 1881 “ « “ —-  —  51,516,000,000 


In the last-named year, consequently, the interest on the national 
debt of $3,000,000,000, will equal only 3,3, per cent. of the national 
wealth. . 

This estimate of the reduced percentage of the interest of the 
national debt in ratio to the national wealth, is made upon the 
rate of increase of natjonal wealth prior to the rebellion. 

On this calculation, what will be the increase for the next six- 
teen years? Let us look a little more carefully into this question. 
During the last ten years the increase of wealth in nine of the 
North-western States and Territories of the United States was not 
less than 4114 per cent.—the aggregate increase being from 
$452,500,000 to $1,862,000,000.' Four new Territories, which 
did not appear in the census of 1850, had a valuation in 1860 of 
$98,000,000. Those, since organized—Dacotah, Nevada, Colo- 
rado, Arizona and Idaho—are not embraced in this estimate. 
These last named States and Territories are as rich in precious 
metals of all kinds as was California. 

As another important source of wealth and revenue, the United 
States still holds 950,000,000 of acres of unsold lands which, now 
that the war is closed, will soon come into market, and which 
should bring $1,000,000,000 into the public Treasury. 


But what is of vastly greater importance is the rapidly increased 
value of these lands, consequent upon their occupation and settle- 
ment. The taxable value of property in the North-western States, 
as has been shown, increased at the rate of 4113 per cent. from 









44 


1850 to 1860. In 1880 this value will be thirty times greater — 
than it was in 1860, and form the basis of a revenue infinitely 
ereater than what could be derived from the sale of their lands a 
so that if every dollar derived from this source should be bestowe 
upon the new States by the Federal Gowernment, in aid of in 
ternal improvements and for educational purposes, their taxable 
wealth and the revenue derived from them would soon exceec 
many times the sums so bestowed. It is not only in what we now ; 
possess, but what we are capable of accomplishing, that our 
strength lies. ie 


Our minerals are another vast source of yet undeveloped wealth. — i 
At least 1,000,000 square miles of our territory are surpassingly . 
rich in gold, silver, copper, lead, quicksilver, coal, gypsum, salt, — ee 
etc., etc. From their recent discovery our gold and silver deposits, —__ 
except in California, have hardly begun to be worked. Were they _ 
worked even to the extent that they are in that State, they would — 4 
produce, it is estimated, at least 200,000,000 annually, while the — 2 
other minerals named would yield at least one-half this sum, were __ 
proper means of transportation and communication provided. Such — a 
results are not probabilities of a far distant future; their accomp- __ 
lishment is sufficiently near to be an all-important element in 
enabling the country to bear the burdens imposed upon it. They 
are, in fact, the necessary and inevitable consequence of the pro- 
gress of a people who already number 34,000,000 souls—who 
double their population every twenty-three and a half years—who 
possess every implement and contrivance that science and art have 
contributed in aid of labor—who ere urged forward by a resistless 
spirit of enterprise, confident of their future, and of their ability to 
surmount all obstacles that may oppose their way. Such a people 
may be safely entrusted with the greatest responsibilities, and are 
equal to any emergency in which they may be placed. 


But upon the future growth of these undeveloped territories we 
by no means place our confidence of the ability of our people to — 
bear the burdens imposed upon them. The aggregate increase of 
the wealth of the older States has been vastly greater, though the 
ratio of the increase may not have been so great. That of Ohio has | 





45 


increased within ten years at the rate of 126 per cent., although 
the State was founded 77 years ago; that of the States of New 
Jersey and Connecticut, though founded more than two centuries 
ago, increased in a like rate; that of Pennsylvania increased, with- 
in the same period, at the rate of 96 per cent., upon the already 
large aggregate of $722,000,000. 


For the last four years the Northern States supplied all the 
means for carrying on the war, and for defraying the expenditures 
of Government. We are fast being relieved of the former, at the 
same time that the States recently in rebellion are now contribut- 
ing their proportion to our already diminished burdens. ‘These are 
soon to be reduced more than one-half, while our increased means 
from an united country must exceed by at least one-third what 
they have been. By the census of 1860 the wealth of the Southern 
States equaled $3.467,000,000. In the period of five years, from 
1855 to 1860, they doubled the value of their products. They will 
in a very short time, be restored tg a condition of prosperity far 
exceeding anything in their. former experience. The great draw- 
backs to the proper development of their resources have been re- 
moved. ‘They possess all the blessings and advantages—which 
cannot be over estimated—of a temperate zone and of a semi- 
tropical elimate. What they have lacked have been population» 
skilled labor, a spirit of enterprise, and the manifold industries of 
free institutions; all these essentials to prosperity have been 
secured to them by the war. 


A short period, therefore, only is required for the realization of 
the promise which our natural wealth and resources afford. Taking 
the past as a basis of calculation for the future, the United States, 
in 1880, will have a population of 60,000,000, and a national 
wealth of $60,000,000,000. It will then not only be able to meet 
the interest on the public debt, but will be able to discharge it with 
entire ease—and, true to our historic policy, will undoubtedly do 
so. The national wealth of Great Britain, in 1816, was only halfas 
great as is that of the United States at the present time, yet its debt 
has already been reduced from 40 to 12 per cent. of its wealth. That 
of the United States in 1880, will be only 5 per cent of its wealth, 
should the amount of the debt, in the meantime, remain unreduced’ 














46 


Should revenues additional to these already provided be re- 
quired, they may be easily raised by taxes levied upon cotton an : 
tobacco and other articles of the re-established Union, of which we " 
monopolize the production of the world. It is estimated that « our 
revenue may be increased from these sources from $60,000, 000 
to $100,000,000, without any diminution in the consumption of 
the articles taxed, and without injury to our commerce or to “ng 
domestic interest. 

The manner in which the obligations of the United States. ar 
held should add greatly te the confidence of foreigners in them ’ 
Of the whole amount outstanding, not more than $300,000,000, ora 
one-tenth of the whole, are held abroad. All classes at home, poor — ‘4 4 
as well as rich, have ra their savings in them. Very large — 
amounts are held in sums not exceeding $50. Preference is uni- 
versally given to them over all other kinds of investment. No 
national loan was ever so universally distributed. Hach citizen — 
felt himself a party to the contest, and contributed to it accordinges 3 
to his ability. All, consequently, are directly interested in main- a 
taining inviolate the public faith. Pe 

It is a great error to suppose that the Northern States have been 4 
exhausted in consequence of the war. There is most convincing | i 
proof to the contrary in the ease and readiness with which they a 
have supplied the Government with money, and whatever was 
necessary for its prosecution, and have absorbed the vast debt 
that has been created. ‘The Government has neither directly nor Be 
indirectly borrowed a dollar in Europe. The bonds that have ; 
found their way there have gone in the regular course of trade. Re 

The vast demand created by the war for munitions, materials 
and supplies of all kinds, gave to the agriculture of the West and 
the manufactures of the North a wonderful impulse, which still Be : 
continues. ‘The resources of those sections remain not only unim- | Ee 
paired, but have been greatly augmented. Great as are their bur- 
dens, the people feel themselves perfectly able to bear them, and ~ 
that they have an ample equivalent for them of a nature far tran- _ 
scending mere material advantages. They have for the first time a a 
established their nationality upon an immutable basis. They have 3 5 d 
removed the great source of discord and alienation—slayery— — = 
and they are infinitely stronger and more united than ever before. _ 





De 





47 


Under the able and judicious administration of our affairs, the 
nation has started anew on a career of growth and prosperity un- 
exampled in its own history, or in that of any other people. 

The nation has pledged its honor for the fulfilling of all its obli- 
gations. Success has givena full equivalent for them. Its wonder- 
ful experience has served to give confidence in and ability for the 
future, and no one who considers our means, our present position, 
or the guarantees of the past, can doubt the payment of o ir national 
“debt.” 


On my return home I received not only the thanks of 
the Government for the services I had rendered, but grati- 
fying evidences of appreciation of them from private indivi- 
duals. I annex the following Associated Press Report of 
my interview with the; President and Secretary of the 
Treasury, on presenting | my report: 


“Wasutneton, Friday, Nov. 3, 1865. 


Mr. J. D. F. Lanier, the well known banker of New York, who 
recently returned from Europe, whither he went some time 
ago on a confidential mission for the Government in connec- 
tion with the national finances, yesterday had an interview with 
the President and the Secretary of the Treasury, to whom he 
submitted a report of the results of his mission. Mr. Lanier every- 
where found the best of feeling prevailing, in financial circles, with 
relation to the United States, particularly on the Continent, and 
great confidence in our public securities. At Frankfort-on-the- 
Maine he addressed, at length, a large meeting of capitalists, em- 
bracing representatives from nearly every leading house in Ger- 
many. ‘The complete and utter overthrow of the rebellion was a 
matter of equal surprise and congratulation, and the demonstration 
made of the power and wealth of the North was a subject of un- 
usual admiration. But the war being ended, the expectation was 
confidently expressed by the Huropean holders of our securities, 
that we would immediately commence a return*toward specie pay- 
ments, however gradual the progress in such direction might be. 
Such a step, it was represented, was absolutely necessary to the 
maintenance of confidence in our securities and in the policy of the 


48 





















Government. The ability of the country to bear all the burdens 
of the war was not questioned, especially with the rapid progress 
of the work of Reconstruction, which bids fair to restore political 
and social amity to every portion of the country. With a wise 
and correct policy, there will be no limit to the demand for our 
securities, not only on the Continent, but in England, where our — 
military successes were fast opening the eyes of their people as to 
the value of our bonds. But the feeling against any further i in- 7 
crease, and in favor of a steady contraction of the currency, was: = 
nniversally expressed as the sole condition on which our credit — 
abroad could be maintained. It is understood that the views of s 
Mr, Lanier were heartily Se to, both by the President and 


the Secretary of the Treasury.” . E> 


TI also annex a copy of a letter received from Hon. Santee 


Hooper, M. C.: 


Fh 
wit 
et 
“ay 


THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS, 
Housr or REPRESENTATIVES, 
Wasuineton City, Dec. 24, 1865. 


My Dear Sir—lI have to thank you for your kindness in send: | 
ing me a printed copy of your remarks recently made at a meetin 
of European capitalists at Frankfort on-the-Maine, which I have — . 
read with much interest and with most hearty approval of them. 
I consider you entitled to the thanks of all loyal men for them ; £. 
and I congratulate you on the results which so soon after added — 4 
confirmations to your statements. am 


With great respect, I am, 

Your ob’d’t servant, | Be 

J. F. D. Lanter, Esq. (Signed) $. Hooper. | i” 
Since the date of the above remarks, I have had, in 
common with every American citizen, the gratification of a 
“witnessing an uninterrupted improvement of our nation 
credit. All that I, or others, could do was to present the — 
evidence upon w Rear this appreciation has been based, and 
show what we were and what the future must do ia us. 





49 


But even my anticipations have been far exceeded by the 
result. 


In this connection I also copy the following article from 
the New York 7imes newspaper, of January 19, 1866: 


‘“OUR FINANCIAL POSITION ABROAD. 


The effects of our great struggle are beginning to be felt in 
Kurope at the moment we are emerging from them here. The 
wave set in motion is moving round the world, uniform in its course 
and resistless in its power. We have demonstrated that the 
nationality of a Republic, based solely upon the conviction of its 
value, is far more firmly grounded in the hearts of the people than 
institutions based upon tradition, and fortified by pride of ancestry 
and the recollection of great deeds; or by that uniformity of life 
and character which ages alone can produce. Foreigners, for the 


- first time, realize that we are a nation, with an ideal palpable to 


the meanest citizen—that chaos has no place in our system, and 
that we have the will and the power to reduce to obedience every 


refractory element; and that the strongest of all governments is 


that in which each citizen has an equal share, and is an equal par- 
taker in the advantages which it secures. 

The first sentiment developed toward us is that of respect. 
Close upon that follows confidence in our material and financial 
condition. We have provoked a spirit of inquiry which cannot be 
set at rest. We no longer lack friends to sympathize with us, but 
hosts are coming forward to share our burdens and our prosperity. 
Our securities are eagerly sought for investment, particularly on 
the Continent, at the same time that a new impulse is given to 
emigration to our shores. ‘The interest felt in us in Germany can- 
not be better described than by giving an extract from a letter re- 
ceived from I[rankfort-on-the-Maine, where a large number of 
capitalists was recently addressed by our citizen, Mr. Lanier, 
whose remarks have been circulated, by our Consuls, throughout 
Hurope. It says: 


‘Gold or paper dollar is the question which agitates the German 
press and financiers. ‘I'he more they discuss your financial pros- 


50 


















pects, the more they invest in your securities. On all ‘Chang 
the transactions in them are enormous. Since the rece ae 


in them, to the detriment of other interests. But to the ies 
ment of the Government, your bonds next day rose two per cent 
the Liberal press taking the ground that the people could do not 
ing better than invest in American securities, as the saftest loan 
offered in an age. These bonds are the most powerful and influ- 
ential emissaries you could have sent over to the Old Continent. 4 
to convert the masses to republican principles. They never be- 
fore heard so much talk about America; your means and re- 
sources, your future and your prospects, are discussed everywhere, 

and in such favorable terms that emigration is the leading topic — 
among the sturdy masses; and the next year will bring you, for 
every $1,000 of your bonds taken in Germany, at least one of her | 
industrious sons.’ | = 


A similar feeling is rapidly developing itself towards us in Eng- E 
land, as shown by the operations of the London Stock Exchange. 
Our securities are constantly forcing their way there, in spite of a 
the efforts of the Bank of England and of the public press to decry — ag 
their value, and to point out the danger to that country from a_ 
large investment in them. | 


Such a result is not only most gratifying to our national pride, : 
but is the proper reward of our efforts and successes, and preneem 
homage to our national character. Itis due very largely to a 
public-spirited gentleman who has visited Hurope for the purpose 
of placing before the people, there, the ground and method of our _ 
strength and prosperity, and who supplied the data by which . 
foreigners themselves could arrive at satisfactory conclusions in ~ 
reference to them. His success was complete. The sentinel aa 
everywhere felt toward us is all we could wish. It has increased — Bek: 
enormously, not only our political influence and power, but it goes — : 
far to solve any financial embarrassments that ‘might Se ‘ 








‘ 
i 


51 


The way being prepared, should it be thought advisable, we could 


have, any day, a draft upon Kurope honored for almost any amount. 


The object of the bill now in the hands of the Committee of Ways 
and Means is to place such power in the hands of the Secretary of 
the Treasury, should its exercise ever be deemed to be expedient. 
It is not probable, however, that any such necessity will occur. 
Our own people are abundantly able to absorb all our securities, 
while the amounts going abroad, daily, will fully equal all we 
should wish to see placed in foreign hands. Our military suc- 
cesses, together with the material strength we have displayed, 
have settled our financial difficulties; and though these have in 
times past been great, every day lessens the burdens they im- 
pose.” ¢ 

In 1868, being again about to leave for Europe, I re- 
ceived from the Treasury Department the following com- 
munication ; 

Treasury DEPARTMENT, } 
4 April 20,1868. — | 

Dear Sir—Understanding that you are about visiting Hurope, 
I take the liberty of requesting that you will, as a friend of the 
Department and as a representative of it without compensation, 
avail yourself of such opportunities as may be presented to you to 
ascertain what is the sentiment of capitalists in regard to United 
States securities ; what would be the prospect of negotiating a five 
per cent. loan—principal and interest, by express provision of law, 


payable in coin; and whether or not such bonds could be exchanged, 


at par, for the Five-T'wenty six per cents. now held in Europe? 

I will thank you also to make, from time to time, such sugges- 
tions as you may think proper in regard to the finances of the 
United States, and the best steps to be taken to place the credit 
of our securities on the most satisfactory basis. 

With many thanks for the very valuable service rendered by 
you to the Government when you were last in Hurope, 

I remain, very truly, 
Your ob’d’t servant, 
(Signed) H. McCuttocy, 
J. F. D. Lanter, Esq, Secretary of the Treasury. 
New York. 




















made at Frankfort on a previous visit, to be re-printed, with — 
some additional matter, and circulated, widely, through the — 

Consulates and other channels. I also’ confer , suflicientl, Ry 
with leading bankers abroad to satisfy gee that, in. 
comparatively short period, a jive per cent. long bond, pa 
able, principal and interest, in gold, in New York, could b 3 
made to take the place of ie six per cents. outstanding, a 
aud without loss to the Government—which conviction I _ 
communicated to the Secretary of the Treasury. Bren 
thing that has since transpired has tended to confirm such 


| 
" 


conviction. 


At the close of the war it was estimated that the funded — 
debt of the Government, when all the outstanding clainaa : a 
should be included, would reach $8,000,000,000. It would — 
have reached this amount, but for the vast sums which our — 4 
immense revenues snabied us to pay. At the close of the | 
fiscal year of 1866, the ascertained debt amounted toe . 
$2,784,073,379. By the statement made March 1, 1870, a 
and the last made previous to the preparation of this sketch, a a 





it amounted to $2,464,390,348, as follows: ; ‘ : : 
Debt bearing coin interest... 22. ..%.% so «eee $2,107,939,650 
Debt bearing currency interest...................++  124/012;320 
Debt bearing no interest. ...2:.. v2. s eee 440,442,857 — 
Debt matured and not presented for payment........ 3,973,346 
os 
Total debtin<ai). eee eee : ae .$2,676,368,L73 
Less in the Treasury : 
Coins. es cag ia he igs ae le 
Gurrency 22. 2g< gs. 5 et ee ee 10,280,746 
Bonds purchased).2.,.10).) seu eee 99,287,800 
--——-——-— $211,968,285 

Debt less cash and bonds ...-.44 45.2 una. 4 see $2 ,464,399,888 


Of the debt bearing currency interest, $64,457,320 is for 4 
bonds issued on account of the Pacitic Railroads, na which = 
were issued subsequently to July 1, 1866. pene * . 





53 


these trom the above statement the total will be $2,399,420,- 
028, or $384,653,351 /ess than it was three years and eight 
months previous The rate of payment hasexceeded $100,- 
000,000 annually.* 


The average market value of the 6 per cent. 1881 bonds 
of the Government, in 1864, was 110; that of gold, for the 
same year, 220. The value of the bonds in 1865 equaled 
106 per cent.; that of gold 188. The market value of the 
1881 bonds on the 10th of March, 1870, equaled 114; that 
of gold, 111. These figures express, better than any lan- 
guage, ie rapidity with which the credit of the Govern- 
ment has appreciated. 


Since the close of the war I have not taken any active 
part in public affairs, but have devoted myself to banking— 
a business which our house has followed for the past fifteen 
years. We have retained a connection with several of the 


enterprises which we helped into existence, and have fre- 


quently extended to them aid in their financial affairs. I 
ama business man, from taste as well as from long’ habit. 
The period of my business life has probably been the most 
remarkable one in all history. Steam was first successfully 
applied to locomotion in the latter part of 1829—only forty 
years ago! Since then the progress made in the physical 
sciences and in the material prosperity of the world has been 
beyond all precedent. The most sanguine imagination could 
not have pictured one-half the results that have been realized. 
The Electric Telegraph followed speedily upon the inven- 
tion of the railroad, as the necessary condition to the high- 
est value of this wonderful contrivance. In this short period 
50,000 miles of railroad have been opened in the United 
States. A great and unbroken line extends across the Con- 
tinent from ocean to ocean, traversing, without inconven- 





* Norr.—For the year ending Ist March, 1871, the debt had been reduced about one hun- 
dred and ten millions more. 


54 




























ience or interruption, the ae formiantle mountain | 
riers. The terminus of this line upon the western sl 
of the Continent, the City of San Francisco, now conta 
ing 200,000 people, existed only in name when I remoy 
from Indie to New York. The railroad, everywh : 
has become the commou highway of the eon N oa 
have other countries, though far distanced by our own, been 
idle in the great race of social and material progress. 
samme year that witnessed the completion of the Pacific eS < 
road has also been distinguished by the opening of a ship | if 
canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, thus realizing 
the dreams and hopes of the merchant, as well as the great 
rulers, for thousands of years. At the moment that this is 
being written, the great pageant of the opening of this new 
highway, tei shortens by thousands of niles the routes to 
the Indies, is reported to us, word by word, as it proceeds, © 
by lines of telegraph, wholly submerged beneath the seas! 
The period which embraces my business life has been one of | 
intense activity, and of wondertul and beneficent achieve- 
ments; and it is a source of the highest gratitude and satis- ‘ 
faction to me to have witnessed the great movements that 
have taken place, and to have been identified with their A i 
progress. I hope my children will be equally fortunate and — 
happy by being equally favored with opportunities for uses 
ful and oman labor, and to see, as I have seen, the fruit” | 
of it spring up on every hand. ; a 
I now conclude this brief sketch of some of the leading a: 
events of my life. Although I have, throughout, been an- . a 
active business man, I have been subject to but few vicissi- — 
tudes of fortune. I have been almost uniformly successful. 3 
Ihave, as arule, enjoyed excellent health. For all he 
blessings bestowed by a kind Providence, I am, I trust, 
truly grateful. It has been my good fortune not only oa 
have had a wide acquaintance with the leading men, and 
with various portions of this country, but to visit other 








ag 


people and our own institutions. As I grow in years the 
more am I drawn to my family and children. I trust that 
my example will not be without its uses in teaching my 
children the worth of industry and prudence in whatever 
walk of life they may find themselves cast. They may be 
assured that with these qualities, joined to integrity of char- 
acter, they can never be unhappy, and never be without a 
reasonable share of this world’s goods, nor without the 
confidence and respect of their fellow-men. 


be 


THE LATE RICHARD H. WINSLOW. 


[From the American Railroad J Painal March 2, 1861.] 































This gentleman, so well known in the business circles of th 
city, ah for many years a leading mind in the great moveme 
that covered our country with railways, died at his residence 
Westport, Connecticut, on the 14th ult. He was born at Alba 
about fifty-five years ago, and was a direct descendant of Govern 
Winslow, of Plymouth Colony. He came to New York abou 
thirty years since, and immediately went into business in Wall — 
street His prominence, however, as a public man, commenced — 
with the great railway era of the country, which almost immediately — 
followed the discovery of California. On the 1st of January, 1849 
he formed a copartnership with J. F. D. Lanier, Esq., many year: 
a resident of the West,and who brought to the firm not only al 
the qualities that can command affection and respect, but a very 
wide and intimate knowledge ¢ of the public men, and the wants and — 
resources of the West. | Mr. Lanier brought with him the firs 
Western Railroad bond ever offered in this, marketjand the firm 
soon turned its attention to the negotiation of this kind of securi- 
ties. | At that time, Western railroads hardly existed, even 1 
idea. ‘here were no precedents to inspire confidence or to guid 
in framing a system or plan for presenting these enterprises to th 
public. Before anything could be accomplished a favorabl 
Wares had to be created—a formidable undertaking where mone 
tary co-operation was to be secured. For this office Mr. Winslo 
was peculiarly fitted. He was a man whose earnest convictions 
and great energy seldom failed to impress his own views upon all 
with whom he came in contact. The commencement made by the 
- firm, however, was in a very small way. It was compelled to take” 
a portion of loans offered, and divide the balance among a very 
limited circle ; the firm, even in such cases, being frequently calle 
upon to euarantee prompt payment of interest on the loans 
‘he bonds of the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad were firs 
brought out, followed by those of the Little Miami, Columbus an 
Xenia, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, Lake Shore, and. othe 
Western railroads. The immediate success of these works fully 
vindicated the representations made in reference to them, and 
realized large profits to the purchasers of their securities. Thence- 
forward the operations | bE this firm were distinguished rather fo va 





57 


several years nearly every loan brought upon the market was prof: 
fered it, securing to it a selection of the best offered. [In a short 
time its operations extended to almost every State in the Union 
where railroads were in progress, and a very long list of our best- 
paying projects might be named, for the construction of which this 
firm was instrumental in securing the means. So thoroughly had 
this firm become established in public confidence, that in the years 
of 1852, 1853 and 1854, it was no unusual affair for it to make 
negotiations equaling $1,000,000 in a single day; while sales 
varying from $100,000 to $500,000 a day were of common occur- 
rence. In 1852, the firm was enlarged by the addition to it of 
Mr. James Winslow, brother of the deceased. 


Considering the immense number of securities negotiated, the 
firm was very fortunate in the enterprises selected. This was in a 
great measure due to Mr. Lanier, whose thorough and intimate 
acquaintance with the West enabled him to foresee with great ac- 
curacy the works likely to be successful. Nearly all the securities 
negotiated have had their interest promptly paid, while many of 
them rank among the very first class. This firm were also the first 
to introduce County bonds of the State of Ohio upon this market, 
and negotiated the greater portion of these, which are still regarded 
as one among the most reliable Western securities. 


After 1854 the firm gradually withdrew from railway negotia- 
‘tions and confined itself almost entirely to banking, in which it 
transacted a large business. About eighteen months since Mr. 
Winslow retired from it on account of his health which continued 
steadily to decline till his decease. 


What these gentlemen actually accomplished, however, is to be 
looked for in the results rather than in the magnitude of their opera- 
tions. The credit they early established for Western securities, 
spread till it extended over the whole of Europe as well as of this 
country. The capital of both was freely proffered to our enterprises. 
A similar spectacle was never seen. Railroads were commenced 
simultaneously in every part of the Union, and in the decade :just 
closed 25,000 miles were constructed. In one or two years 4,000 
miles were opened each year. The whole system sprangvas if by 
magic into existence, stretching from Quebec, in Canada, to New 
Orleans, 2,500 miles apart, and from the eastern part of Maine to 
the western part of Kansas, penetrating every portion of our wide 
domain. The whole of Europe has yet hardly constructed the ex- 
tent of mileage opened in the United States within the past ten 
years. 


The commerce of a country like the United States is mainly a 
creation of its public works, as these are essential to give a com- 
mercial value to the products of the interior. A person who pro- 























vides the means for the construction of a railroad is a ‘public 
benefactor. Its results are the measure of good he has accom- 
plished. But such persons are often the unseen spring in the 
mechanism, while the one who superintends the execution of ‘i 
single piece of the work becomes the conspicuous object. But for 
the former, the latter could have had no function or name. Now, if 
we take the resulis that followed the efforts of the pioneers in the © 
creat railway movement, we shall have nothing in history to co1 
pare with them. In the Western States, where these have bec 
the most conspicuous, there are now 10, 500 miles of railroad, co 
structed at a cost of $400,000,000, carrying freight to the amou 
of 7,500,000 tons annually, and having a value of at lea 
$500, 000,000. The population of these States increased trom — 
4,72] BBA in 1850, to 7,797,528 in 1860, or at the rate of about 
seventy per cent. Their wealth is increased in threefold ratio. 
First-class cities have sprung into existence, and the whole face of 
the country presents the scene of a numerous, active and chev 
population, with a vast commerce, nearly all the creation of its 
public works. ‘a 
In the Eastern States, ane most striking effect of these works is By 
seen in the progress in ‘population and commerce of the city of 
New York. The population of this city and its environs has in- a a. 
creased from 645,000 in 1850, to 1,155,000 in 1859. Its exports, — 
in 1850, were $47,580,357 - in 1859, $146, 683,450. Its imports, 
in 1850, were $116,667,558; in 1859, $229,408,130. Its wealth 
-in the same time has more than trebled. .This advance is 
the real measure of the results of the construction of Western 
railroads, as New York has reaped the same advantag ge as if each — 
had been constructed for its particular benefit. 
Such results, the firm of which Mr. Winslow was an active _ 
member was greatly instrumental in achieving, and itis proper 
that the occasion of his decease should not be passed by withouta 
reference to them, as they are certainly the proudest monument 
ever erected to the memory of man. ; 





59 


SNOW-STORM IN THE ALPS. 


The following account, written soon after the events de- 
seribed, will interest my children in showing them how 
narrowly I escaped with my life, in a great storm which I 
encountered in crossing the Alps in the winter season: 


GENOA, Friday, Jan. 23, 1863. 


I left Paris on Saturday. I had an agreeable journey by rail to 
San Meichel, at the foot) of Mount Cenis. At San Meichel we 
were transferred to sleighs, or rather to diligences placed on run- 
ners. At 3 P. M., Sunday, we began the ascent of the mountain. 
The day was a pleasant one—calm, with sunshine. We reached 
the summit about 12 1-2 o’clock at night—the weather still con- 
tinuing calm and pleasant, the stars shining brightly—and we con- 
eratulated ourselves on the prospect of so pleasant a passage over 
this Alpine region. We had descended on the Italian side about 
half an hour, when the wind began to blow, drifting the snow across 
our route, which impeded our progress. As we continued to 
descend, the wind increased in violence, making it more and more 
difficult for us to proceed. 

At 3 o'clock in the morning, having reached a point more than 
half-way down, he gale became terrific, roaring like a thousand 
Niagaras, dashing and whirling the fine dry snow so as to darken 
the atmosphere. 

By this time the drifts had become deep, and it being dark our 
progress was stopped On our left was a precipice of a thousand 
feet or more deep. ‘The sleigh next in front of ours had upset with 
the passengers, and was only prevented going over the precipice 
by its lodging in the soft snow within a few feet of the edge. The 
conductor now came and told us we would have to sit in the sleigh 
where we were, until daylight; that he must seek the protection 
of the lee of some rock with his horses to save himself and them 
from perishing from cold. This announcement, you may imagine, 
was anything but agreeable to us. Here we sat until about 9 
o'clock Monday morning. 

About 5 o’clock we heard the fall of an avalanche across the 
road before us, and soon aiter the fall of another in our rear; this 


> 








60 


















greatly increased our alarm, as we did not know what moment — 
another would sweep us over the precipice in its course. It was 
truly a nicht of horror. After daylight we anxiously awaited the 
return of the conductor to know our fate; he came after 9 o ‘clock — "us 
and informed us that he would endeavor to draw the sleigh a little 
nearer the avalanche, to shorten the distance we should have to 
_ walk to reach it. <s 
We had advanced but a few rods a we came to a stand, the ie 
drifts preventing our progress. Our only chance of safety was to — 
walk to the ‘ Cantano,” or house of refuge, about four hundred — 
yards off, the avalanches fifteen to twenty feet deep and more 
than one hundred wide, lying in the way. Hach one had to take aa 
care of himself. oe 
I was the last to leave the sleigh. With difficulty I reached Pe 
the avalanche, and in attempting to walk over it I sank, halfmy 
length, in the soft snow. I became completely exhausted ; the” 
terrible wind took my breath away. I fell on the snow, unable Lo a 
speak or rise. One of the passengers happened to see me fall,and 
after reaching the ‘‘Cantano” sent up two of the Cantoniers, ‘hae 
who carried me to the house nearly in an insensible state. By : 
dint of rubbing with spirits I revived in about half an hour. = a 
The storm continued with unabated fury until about ten o’clock = 
Tuesday morning, when it began to subside a little. In the after. 
noon of Tuesday, the chief of the Cantoniers, an active, energetic 
fellow, came from below with twenty-five of his men ; these, added — 
to about ten at the « Cantano,” made thirty-five men. The ‘sleighs a 
having been brought down, the joyful order was given to mount, 
which was readily complied with. a 
At this place I made the acquaintance of the Marquis D’ Aveta a 
the Italian Minister at the British Court, then on his way to Lon- 
don. At his request, I gave him a copy of this letter, which he —__ 
said he would lay before his Government of Turin, that they might 
consider the subject of providing better accommodation for trav- 
elers at these ‘‘Cantanos.” ‘f 
I had read inmy early years of the fury and power of these 
Alpine storms; how unfortunate travelers were suddenly overtaken = 
and lost in the drifts and avalanches of snow, but never before did 
I realize them. The tunneling of Mount Cenis is progressing as 
fast as the nature of the case admits of; they have penetrated 
about one mile at each end; the blasting is through a rock of the 
hardest kind; the progress is about five feet a day at each end, 
and when completed will be over eight miles long. The comple- 
tion of the tunnel is greatly to be desired; it will make the shortest, 
most direct, and far the most agreeable route from Paris to Italy. 
This work is being done by the Italian Government. 








61 


Copies of letters addressed to me by the Hon. Hugh 
McCulloch, Secretary of the Treasury, and Hon. William 
Hl. Seward, Secretary of State of tlie United States, as I was 
about leaving for Europe in 1865: 


TREASURY DEPARTMENT, 
W asuineton, May 29, 1865. 


Dar Sir—Although you are about to visit Hurope for the 
benefit of your health, and desire to be relieved from all cares 
and responsibilities, | cannot permit a gentleman of your distin- 
guished and well-merited reputation as a financier to visit Europe, 
without asking of him the benefit of his services in explaining to 
Capitalists in that country the condition of our financial affairs, 
and in giving to me the benefit of such suggestions as he may be 
able to make in regard to the condition of American credit in the 
countries he may visit, and in the transaction of any business 
which the Treasury Department may wish to commit to his care. 

I inclose herewith a statement of our national debt. You are 
well advised of our national resources. 

I will thank you, while in Europe, on behalf of the Treasury De- 
partment, to explain the character of this debt and the extent of 
the resources of the United States, to gentlemen with whom you 
may come in contact, and who may be interested in these sub- 
jects. 

I will from time to time communicate with you upon these sub- 
jects, and ask of you to perform specific duties, if I should be 
under the necessity of requiring your particular services. 

Trusting that your journey will be a pleasant one, and that you 
will return to the United States re-invigorated by relaxation and 
travel, | 

IT am, very truly, your ob’d’t servant, 
(Signed) H. McCunuoca, 
J. I’. D. Lanier, Esq., Secretary of the Treasury. 


New York, 








ty Darina or Sr. 


Wasuineton, 2d J une, 


To the Diplomatic and Consular ee of ‘the 
Hurope : 


Got een—It is my pleasing ny to ntodave 







Kurope, and he has kindly consented to Fhe SO. 
I commend. him to your friendly attention and con 






discharge of the duties confiae to him. 
I am, gentlemen, 


Ou ee obedient servant, 


ma 


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